Whispers
by Akire Rosales
Summary: SEQUEL OF "MY REALITY". Maka returns to Shibusen after 5 years of absence. The weird part is that she returns alone, leaving her husband Soul behind. In her head there's confusion, her heart is filled with longing, and deep inside her soul cries out for the warmth that only a certain swordsman's wavelenght can give her. But Crona is not a child anymore, and he is not alone...
1. Back to Death City

**Akire Rosales:** awww yisssss! Im in da house!

So, as many asked me to, here I am back again! Delivering the sequel of my one-shot "my Reality". Now... Wait... No! No no no! Dont go! :D is ok, you dont need to read the one-shot to understand this story, trust me, Im a doctor x'D So, this is a Male!CronaxMaka of course, the plot... Very simple xD and it happens 10 years after the anime and 5 years after the one-shot (for the ones who read it).

Now let me explain... This might sound confusing but its needed! since Im writing this while the kishin fight is still on-going in the manga, and we have NO idea what will happen to Crona (please god dont let him die! T-T), Ive decided to join the manga AND the anime so this fanfic works the way I want it. How is that? Basically will be the manga plot, except that Medusa got killed by Maka and Crona stayed in shibusen. Long story short: Manga Maka, Anime Crona. Please roll with it, I know it sounds weird but its for the sake of CroMa!

As always may I remind all of you that english is not my native language xD yet I try to make as few mistakes as possible. I have a beta but this fanfic may be just too much for one person to check, so more beta-readers are apreciated!

**Disclaimer:** I dont own Soul Eater, fortunately for the characters xD!

And there we go...

* * *

**Whispers**

**Chapter 1:  
Back to Death City**

The relaxing movement of the train was making her feel drowsy. She had been fighting sleep for some time now, at some moments falling asleep just to wake up minutes later to stare at the view through the window. Outside the train the view changed every hour, right now showing the wide and suffocating desert of Nevada. She hadn't seen that desert in five years, since she left the city just after her marriage. Couldn't be helped, the memories of that days of youth quickly filled her with longing.

Maka Albarn was now a young woman of twenty five years, her blond loose hair moving in waves slightly with the air conditioner of the train. Her green eyes were watching through the desert, distracted, her mind far away from the view she was pretending to admire.

It was weird to be back at Death City after years living outside, far away from her friends, knowing little to nothing about them. Not just her friends but also all her old teachers, the places, parks and the stores of her childhood. It was like traveling back in time, but she knew that when she arrived everything would be different. She was different that was for sure… They would be different? At least the desert was the same, wide and utterly desolated.

A sigh escaped her lips tarnishing the window glass where her forehead was resting. Without thinking much she raised her index finger and drew in the window a smiley face, just a curved line with a pair of eyes. While staring at that smiley face, her mind started to wander even further to everything she had left behind.

What happened to her friends? They were still living in Death City? She couldn't help to wonder about Tsubaki and Black Star. They were living in Japan as far as she knew, and being that the case she wouldn't be able to see them. But, what about Kim and Ox? They weren't part of her circle of friends, but they were her friends nonetheless. She didn't need to wonder about Kid, since they kept in touch during all those years. There was just one person she had heard a lot about yet she didn't know anything.

How was her dearest friend? That shy little boy with pink hair and kicked-puppy eyes. In the last years she had been trying not to think about him almost with the same strength she used to try to remember him. Truth be told she felt guilty, a complete scum for being away and oblivious to the life of the boy that once upon a time used to be her best friend. Five years had passed, three of which she knew nothing about him, not even a call or a letter. She had lost all track of him since three years ago, ignorant to what was going on in his life except for the things Kid leaked to her.

Was he still living in Death city? Was he healthy? Was he still living in her old apartment? She had been keeping mail with him for two years just after her marriage, and she still held on those old letters. Maka used to read them every time she missed him, and in the last couple of years she had been reading them to the point of memorizing them. Every time she made for dinner something he used to like, every time she stared at a sunset and missed his smile next to her, every time she read a new book and longed for him to comment about it. Since the day when everything started to crumble and his letter stopped coming, Maka noticed a void deep inside of her.

She needed a rest, just a breath of fresh air, far away from routine and her life as a wife. She needed to be far away and think. Above all, she needed her friends and needed him.

A new sigh, this time of longing, while her eyes recognized at the horizon the train station, empty in the middle of the desert. Once she get there, Deathy City would be able to be seen in the distance, at two hours of walking.

* * *

Inside the Death Room, Lord Death stared at the normal life of students in Shibusen through his mirror, his face hidden under the traditional skull mask. Behind him was Spirit, quite impatient and babbling unrequited love nonsense about his only daughter. Stein was with him just a few feet away, staring in silence to his friend while smoking one of his cigarettes.

"Makaaaaaaaa! My Little baby has come to visit me!" Spirit cried while dancing around the room with tears of in his eyes.

Lord Death kept silence while Stein could do nothing but sigh at his friend.

"You do know that you are lying to yourself, right Spirit?" Stein pointed out while staring at him through his glasses. Unlike Spirit, not Stein or Lord Death were happy about having Maka suddently moving back to Death City.

It just didn't make any sense. Maka had a life and a steady job in Germany with Soul where they worked at the apartment of Meisters and Death Scythes of the place. As a four star meister and the best Death Scythe in existence, both of them were required urgently to help. Just after their honeymoon, both of them started living in Germany. That was five years ago.

Maka had requested her vacations abruptly and in advance, choosing among all places in the world to go back to Death City. Even more important, Maka had traveled alone.

"Could you PLEASE let me fantasize at least for one moment? God dammit Stein!" Roared Spirit, giving Stein a pissed off look. Spirit was no idiot; he knew something was wrong with his daughter, something nobody knew… yet.

"Stein, remind me why is Spirit here?" Asked Lord Death with an exasperated sigh, staring at the redhead through the dark holes of his mask.

"Because you need a Death Scythe by your side at all times" Answered Stein just after giving some turns to the screw on his head, frowning slightly while holding his cigarette on his lips.

"More important than that! Who is going to pick up my daughter at the train station?" Asked Spirit suddenly, turning to Lord Death "I should go! Is my duty as her papa!"

"Maka asked me specifically not to send anyone for her at the station, she wants to make the trip here alone" Said the Death God without even looking at Spirit, focusing on the mirror in front of him "She's here anyway"

A few knocks in the door silenced the room, and soon after than the door opened slightly showing the face of a young girl.

"Lord Death, sir… uhm, the meister Maka Albarn wishes to talk to you" Announced the girl who was twirling her thumbs slightly while carrying a folder against her chest.

"Let her in" Were Death's immediate orders, leaving aside the mirror to stare at the door. In moments like those, the Death God was thankful of the mask covering his face, this time hiding his slight excitement. It would be highly uncomfortable for everyone to notice the excitement he was feeling for meeting with an old friend.

They didn't wait long before the figure of Maka, now fully a woman, waved at them with a smile, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her.

"MAKAAAAAAAAAA!" Roared Spirit while tackling her daughter. "PAPA IS HERE! EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT!"

Maka could do nothing but stare at her father with horror, but soon enough she just smiled and opened her arms, waiting for him. Before Spirit could notice her mischievous smirk, he just ran faster to the meeting with his only daughter. Finally Maka accepted him! Consumed in happiness, Spirit jumped right on top of Maka with full intention of squeezing her into his arms.

Big mistake. As soon as he was inches from Maka, she quickly stepped aside, leaving her father to crash against the closed doors behind her. Spirit was knocked out.

"Why am I not surprised that he hasn't changed a bit?" Maka growled with dread, staring at her unconscious father on the floor.

"Maka…" Lord Death called for her, walking closer to her.

The blonde meister turned to see him, smiling widely before running to the encounter with the Death God. Just a few steps away from hugging him, she stopped, suddenly staring at him with seriousness, surprising Death. Before he could guess why the change of attitude, Maka smiled and gave him a slight bow.

"Maka Albarn ready for duty, Lord Death" Announced herself with all required formalities according to the DWMA manuals. The god watched all this in silence for a second, chuckling slightly.

"Please Maka…" He ended laughing while taking off his skull mask, allowing her to see a young man with golden eyes. His pitch black hair decorated with three white symmetrical stripes around his head. "I told you back then and I tell you now again, Kid, just call me Kid"

The blonde woman couldn't help but laugh before opening her arms and give Kid a big long hug. Maka knew long time ago that Kid was the new Death God, the old beloved God had passed away many years ago. The cheerful voice of the god was awfully missed in the school and among those who got to know him the most. Yet no one complained about Kid: a lot more serious than his father and slightly less patient, but Kid was guiding the DWMA to a new era of order and peace.

"It has been so long" Greeted Kid, releasing Maka from his embrace, giving some steps back just to see her properly. "Even when we both stayed in touch all this time using the mirror, seeing you in person is… you've changed a lot"

"I should say the same! You've turned into a full grown man, uhm?" Maka teased with a playful smile making Kid to blush slightly.

Giving some room for Kid to compose himself, Maka turned to watch at the Death Room and everyone on it. Stein greeted her with his hand. No one else was there.

"Hello there Professor Stein, looking good!" Maka greeted with a thumb up. Stein chuckled a bit, smiling at his former student.

"I know is not true Maka, but thank you for your lie" Stein smiled at her, combing his silvery hair slightly with his fingers. The struggle against madness, even without any kishin around, had left the doctor looking older than he truly was. His pale face showed exhaustion, both due to his work and his madness. The old glasses added age to his face and accentuated the bags unders his eyes.

Even though, Stein looked good. Madness hadn't progressed since those dark times and his sanity was almost normal. Eternally tired, but sane and healthy.

"Where's Liz and Patty?" Asked Maka with interest in her face. She had been hoping to see the sisters with Kid, but he was alone. It was a little disappointing, she truly had been longing to see her old friends.

"They shouldn't take long to come, I told them you would be here today and the exact hour, but they were way too nervous to just wait here" Kid sighed with both of his hands on his hips, his face in an exasperated grimace "they went out shopping to pass the time, as usual"

Maka laughed a bit with the news. Of course, between Liz being a ball of nervousness and Patty as hyper as usual, there was nothing else Kid could do to handle them. Suddenly the door of the Death Room opened wide, sending the unconscious body of Spirit flying to the other side of the room.

"Makaaaa!" Roared a familiar voice, Patty running as fast as she could just to tackle Maka, squeezing her in her arms. "Maka! You are here! Kid told us you would be here! And he never lies, right? Yo are heeeeere!"

Patty was dancing around while holding Maka tightly, the blonde having serious difficulties to breathe.

"Im happy to see you… Patty…. Can't breathe…!" Maka panted while being shaken by the smallest Thompson, who quickly released her giving her a pat in her back. Soon enough Maka noticed another figure close by, Liz smiling at her with that calm look of hers.

"I wanted to hug you too, but I think you've had enough of it with Patty" The tall blond teased with a smile, using all of his self-control for not to tackle Maka as well.

"Nonsense, come over here… " Maka smiled, opening her arms with a wide smile. Liz couldn't hold it back, running to hug Maka tightly with tears in her eyes, Patty quickly joining both in a group hug. Liz always tried to tough for her sister, but right there the pride was worth for nothing. She was a sensible girl, and she had missed her friend badly, her quiet sobs giving her away.

Kid stared at the scene with a smile on his lips. Only he truly knew how much his weapon partners had missed Maka. For everything they dealed together during their youth, Maka was the closest friend that the Brocklyn demons have ever had.

They stood like that for a long while, enough to allow all the emotions to settle down. Once they untangled from the hug, Maka scrubbed the tears of her face away with his white glove, laughing with Liz and Patty. However the laugh didn't last long because Maka glanced to the door of the Death Room. No one else had come to greet her.

"Did anyone else know about my return?" Maka asked turning to see Kid who understood right away the reason of her question. His expression changing to full seriousness, the god took a deep sigh before crossing his arms on his chest.

"Black Star and Tsubaki now live in Japan, you know that. I sent them a letter telling them about you staying in Death City for a while, they haven't answered"

"Kid…" Maka called for him, her green eyes staring at him, a slight frown in her face. Yes, Kid knew quite well what Maka exactly wanted to know.

"I didnt tell him…" The young god confessed, his golden eyes staring at Maka, waiting for her reaction.

"You didnt… Why? Kid…"

"I didnt know how he would react" He explained, letting go a sigh he didn't know he was holding. "Maka, he hadn't seen you in five years… you have no idea how bad it went for him when you left. I could have caused more harm than good"

"But… is he ok? He's still living here?" Maka asked with worry in her voice, making Kid frown in confusión.

"How?... You guys haven't kept in touch by correspondence?"

"Yes… for a while, but I haven't known anything about him in almost three years… my letters never were answered" Maka whispered staring at the floor, her face showing a glimpse of hurt. She didn't want to think that Crona had been avoiding her the last few years.

"I didn't know that… I've delivered all of your letters with precision" Kid frowned. Crona has been ignoring Maka? It was much more likely that the moon stop grinning first.

"And the letters I sent to his address weren't answered either…" By that moment Maka started feeling that dread clenching her chest. From the moment when the letters of his best friend stopped arriving, the problems in her life had seemed to increase abruptly. Of course her problems had nothing to do with that, but the fact of not having any comfort of his friend when she needed him the most only had helped in making his absence way more noticeable.

She wanted to see him, to know he was alright, to see his face after five years. Maka was way too worried and focused on finding out about his friend that she didn't notice the knowing looks Liz and Patty were giving to each other, both with some deep frowns in their faces.

"I want to see him Kid, where is he?"

"He's here in the DWMA, isnt that right Stein?" Kid asked to the professor who stared at both young adults with a deep frown in his face. Kid's question took him out of his thoughts.

"Eclipse salon, first basement" Was his only answer, his eyes staring with a frown at some random point of the room. He looked pissed, almost as if Kid and Maka's conversation hadn't been of his liking at all.

"Basement?... but the DWMA doesnt have any classrooms in the basement, just…"

"Now we do" Kid interrupted her, smiling at her again. "I could explain it to you, but it would be better if you see it with your own eyes"

Maka wanted answers in that very moment; she had never been a very big fan of riddles. With a pout in her face, she just shook her head before waving good bye to the Thompson Sisters and Stein, running out of the Death Room. She wanted to see Crona and fast, besides it was a good idea to run away before her father regained consciousness.

* * *

It didn't take long for her to reach the school's basement. She knew the DWMA like the palm of her hand, besides there weren't too many changes around to disorientate her. The school was just like how she remembered it… until she reached the basement, that is.

There were the same endless corridors, the difference being some colorful arrows hanging on the stone walls all around the place, all of them pointing to one direction: Eclipse classroom. The DWMA had always named classrooms using numbers and lunar phases, but they have never had a classroom named "Eclipse". Without number, it meant that the class was unique, no grades, with a specific and steady group of students. It was much like the Spartoi squad, and that was odd enough by itself.

Why Crona was taking class there? Furthermore, why he was still a student? The last letters he got from him had said that he was on a long mission, traveling around in the name of the DWMA with Ragnarok. After that, the letters stopped coming.

Of course panic got the best of her in that moment, and she had been close to throw her job out of the window just to return to the DWMA and make sure her dearest friend was alright. Kid calmed her down in that moment through the mirror, telling her that Crona was back from his travel and he was perfectly fine. Nonetheless, from that moment the letters just stopped coming.

Why?

Finally she reached the room which was quite hidden in the depts of the basement. The basement used to be used only to lock the DWMA criminals. Crona slept in one of those cells for quite some time a long time ago.

Had he done something wrong? Had he tried to leave the DWMA again? There were so many questions in her head that she was starting to get a headache. With a deep breath, she took a hold of the door knob, opening it quietly just to not disturb the class.

"You all may think you are alone and that wandering around by yourselves is better than picking sides, but the DWMA is more than just a side" A young woman with pink hair was talking to the group of students who were staring at her idly. She was wearing a short pink skirt that barely reached half her thighs and a white blouse that framed her figure. Hanging on her chest was a badge with the name "Prof. Kim Diehl" written on it.

"You are here by your own choice, and as such the DWMA promises to protect all of you in exchange of service to the school and to Lord Death" Kim kept talking, trying to maintain the interest of those eight students in the classroom.

"We are not here by our own choice" A girl commented with a frown in her face. She was wearing a black dress with blue spots at random places, in her head was a pointed black hat. "Actually we are here because we have no choice at all! Any other place would mean death to any of us"

"But you have chosen to be here. You could have decided to stay with your kind, to wander alone or search for company with other outcasts no matter the consecuences, but you are here" Kim said with that demanding tone of hers, her words rather harsh to the girl who pouted at her.

"Well yeah, fine, is not like any other option was good…" The girl growled before crossing her arms around her chest and looked away. She was probably not older than 14.

"Beside, what use can possibly have the DWMA for us? We are not meisters or weapons…" Another girl shouted from the back of the classroom, looking at the teachers with a suspicious frown.

A voice that haven't been heard during the whole class finally spoke. A little hidden behind the teacher's desk, a very thin man with pink hair called the attention of the group by clearing his dry throat.

"S-Shibusen is not a p-place that d-demands something from you to be a-admitted" Answered that man who was clenching on his own arm to ease his nervousness, his dark eyes staring at the student, almost forcing himself to stare at her. "The DWMA is an institution f-focused on maintain order. It's a s-sanctuary for everyone who is c-chased and lost, a school that helps you to d-deal with yourself…"

The woman with pink hair smiled at the man next to her, laying her hand on his shoulder trying to support him to keep talking. The young man smiled back at her.

"But the DWMA uses the demon weapons and their meisters to destroy kishing eyes, what possible use can the school have for us? I don't believe in that "selfless help" crap!" Shouted a young boy with green hair, dressed all in black leather with a black jacket and black leather gloves to match.

"L-Lord Death's will is to help w-whoever needs to be helped, no m-matter their origins" The young man with pink hair said, giving himself a tight squeeze on his right arm. "Shibusen knows that not all of our kind is evil and d-destructive, Professor Kim is a good e-example"

"That's right" Kim supported her partner with a smile before walking forward to face the students, staring at all of them with that demanding eyes of hers. "Still, you all are right about something… the DWMA actually wants something from all of you…"

The students suddenly roared in disapproval, shouting words like "I knew it!" between them, obviously not happy at all. Kim opened her mouth trying to calm them down, but she was interrupted by another voice that no one expected to hear.

"Shibusen will give protection to all of you, a house and a family, in exchange of your complete loyalty" Maka said while stepping inside the classroom. It had taken her a moment to fully understand what was going on, but now she understood completely. "The DWMA currently has a truce with the Witches Council, and the new norms say that every witch in need of shelter will be welcomed in exchange of her signature where she swears complete loyalty to the school and Lord Death, and above all to share and cherish his vision… And his vision is order and peace"

The whole group kept silence, every student staring at that girl of blonde hair. A pair of students whispered between them.

"By joining the DWMA you can leave behind your past, your enemies, and if you wish even your name. Shibusen is an opportunity to start all over again; in here you will learn how to live not only with other people but also with yourself. Besides, if you do all of that while being able to sleep in peace and with a full belly… how can anyone say no to that? Maka finished with a smile, staring at all those young witches and boys who stared back at her almost in awe.

Maybe they knew who she was, or maybe her security was contagious, but no other student dared to talk back to her. It was in that thick silence when she heard an accelerated breathing. Maka turned to look at Kim, who stared back with a surprised look on her face.

But the one she truly wanted to see was that shy young man who was hiding behind Kim, his pale blue eyes staring at her in shock. His chest was moving up and down quite fast, almost hyperventilating.

There he was, tall, thin, and as shy as she remembered him.

"Crona" she called for him, her green eyes staring at him with longing. There he was, her friend, just a few steps away from her.

The pale lips of that man barely opened just to let out a soft whisper.

"Maka..."

* * *

Soooo… how is it?

Was what you all have been expecting? No? Yes? Pwease Pwease! For this chapter I need reviews, because as you probably noticed I didn't use my beta reader for this! I really don't like to depend on someone else to do my stuff, specially when I cant give anything back to that person as a thank you.

Im trying to write by myself with as few grammatical mistakes as possible. Feedback please! Was this tolerable? It made your eyes bleed? You want my beta reader back? Tell me!

REVIEW!


	2. A Silent Soul

**Whispers**

**Chapter 2**

"**A silent soul"**

The classroom stood silent for the longest time, drowned in silence except for a quickened breathing. It looked like a staring contest where the challengers were the adults and the public those eight witch teenagers.

Kim's eyes couldn't look away from what seemed to be an illusion: to see Maka again, after five years. Her expressive green eyes were filled with surprise and shock, her lips starting to twitch into a smile. Maka smiled back to Kim just for a brief instant, her attention almost completely focused on Crona. The pink-haired boy looked like he was seeing the scariest ghost of his life, he looked almost terrified. He was shaking, his usual black eyes turning into a deep soft blue: a sea of something that was pretty much close to utter horror.

He was hyperventilating with a cold sweat running down his spine, his face turning paler and paler each second.

Soon enough a characteristically "splurt" was heard, Ragnarok popping out of Crona's back. The demon sword was just like Maka remembered him: black, small, and obnoxious as always.

"Kim! Kim we are losing him!" Ragnarok warned with alarm in his high-pitched voice, tugging on Crona's hair to snap him out of it. Meanwhile the young meister kept shaking and unresponsive to his partner's aggression, his blue eyes fixed on Maka.

The witch looked at Crona for a second before frowning with worry. Without answering Ragnarok, she addressed the students who were staring at the scene quite interested.

"Alright guys, class dismissed, don't forget to attend your other classes, now move on" She ordered, her bossy voice leaving no doubt for the witches to leave.

And just in time because as soon as the classroom emptied, Crona started having a panic attack.

"R-R-R-RAGNAROK! It's happening again! Ragnarok Im seeing her!" Crona screamed while looking at what he thought was an illusion, holding his own head tight on his hands "I don't want to see her! Not again! Ragnarok!"

"CRONA! CALM YOUR TITS! Damn and stop breathing like that you idiot! Im getting dizzy!" Ragnarok roared, getting inside Crona's body just to pop out again from him, this time out of his chest.

Taking Crona's coat, he started shaking him violently.

"Don't lose your panties, goddammit! You are spreading your madness! Shit, im seeing her too! IT'S HORRIBLE!" The demon sword kept screaming, shaking Crona harder and harder, almost like if beating his meister would make Maka disappear.

It took a second for Kim to react, but quickly enough she ran to Crona, slapping Ragnarok away from him. Taking the young meister by his shoulders, she started shaking him just the same way Ragnarok was.

"Ey! I was doing that!" Ragnarok scuffed.

"Crona, look at me!" She ordered, almost demanded at him, making Crona to stare right at her with shaking blue eyes. "She's real! Is Maka! Maka is here!"

"M-M-Maka…" Crona whispered with uncertainty in his voice, his eyes fixed on Kim. He really didn't have the courage to look at the blonde girl behind Kim, that girl he had missed so much.

Meanwhile Maka stared at the scene almost as impressed as he was. Crona had never been an example of mental health, but she didn't remember him so… unstable. Unstable was the word, he looked almost as if he were fighting madness right there. He looked shaken, scared, confused… just the way she met him the first time.

She didn't leave Crona like that. During those five years after the Kishin fight, when they were the closest friends, the pink-haired meister had achieved a huge progress in his self-esteem and confidence. Of course he would never be another Black Star, but he could deal with a lot more things than before. That Crona in front of her was not even the shadow of what they accomplished together during those years.

Just what the hell happened to him?

"Crona…" Maka called him softly, walking slowly towards him. The swordsman stared at her with sheer horror, stepping back from her a couple of steps.

"N-n-no… Stay away!" Crona screamed with a raised hand, terrified. "I know you are not r-r-real! Maka is not here! She is not! Not here not here not here! Shes not here!"

Crona repeated the same words over and over again, almost like a mantra. He kept shaking his head, his eyes closed tightly just to open them time to time, squeaking in terror when the so called illusion didn't disappear.

Ragnarok stared at Maka fixedly, his toon eyes scanning her from head to toe. Soon enough a lightbulb turned on above his head, pummeling on Crona's skull with renewed energies.

"Hey dumbass! It's not an illusion! The cow is here!" Said Ragnarok, sounding quite impressed.

Maka's eyebrow twitched slightly with Ragnarok's insult, but she would deal with the demon sword later, Crona was more important. Stepping closer, Maka managed to step barely a couple feets away from the swordsman, who started looking more confused than terrified. Raising her hand, Maka gently took Crona's in a tight grip, slowly caressing his hand with her thumb.

"Crona I'm here… it's me" The blonde meister whispered to him as softly as she could. It was like dealing with that frightened child she met in Shibusen's basements, fearful of his barriers being destroyed.

"Maka…" Crona whispered back, his blue eyes staring at that hand holding his own, raising his eyes to look at those green eyes he had missed so much. He started feeling her caress, sensed her warmth, her soft scent.

It was Maka. Maka was there, in front of him. It wasn't an illusion.

"Maka…" Crona repeated, his blue eyes no longer shaking, no longer projecting that inner madness. They seemed to have subsided, leaving behind only confusion and what seemed to be a whirlwind of emotions Maka couldn't figure out in that moment.

Just then, Maka allowed herself to let out a relieved sigh, her eyes now looking at Crona fully.

Crona was tall. He hadn't grown up anymore since the day she left Death City five years ago, but she had forgotten just how tall he was. He was about the same height as Spirit, but his frame was thinner. His pink hair was still chopped and uneven but a lot longer, many strands falling down below his shoulders. Maka thought she could easily make him a low pony tail and couldn't help but smile while imagining how he would look like.

What really caught her attention, even more than his long hair, were his clothes. He wasn't wearing his usual black robe, the one he was using when they met. Instead, he kept hiding his whole body below a long black coat loosely closed above his chest with a pair of buttons. Below that, she could see what seemed to be a white shirt with long neck, neatly tucked with a white belt around his slim waist… and were those black pants? Yes, he was wearing some nice black suit pants.

She couldn't drag the swordsman out of his comfort zone by using any color that wasn't black, but looking at him wearing that outfit… damn! Yeah it was the typical "cool" outfit that regular guys would wear just to look mysterious and sexy, but seeing it in Crona… she could actually feel the heat filling her cheeks.

Crona, on the other hand, was still recovering from the initial shock, his now black eyes looking beyond Maka's face. Since the Kishin times Maka had grown up, her legs got larger and her body matured, yet she was still of short height probably because of her mother's heritage. Her womanly attributes also had blossomed during those times, just a couple of years before her wedding. It wasn't like Crona would pay attention to that kind of things of course! Not at all!

Alright yeah, maybe a little… he was still a man!

For many men Maka wouldn't be a big deal. She didn't have a super model's body like Blair, it was just a simple modest feminine body. Nonetheless, for Crona it was like seeing the most beautiful angel of heavens, because she was Maka, his angel.

The mutual staring lasted just a couple of seconds, seconds in which both of them stood in silence. All of the sudden, and for Crona's surprise, Maka broke the distance between them giving him a tight hug. Due to the height difference, Maka's head just reached his shoulder but that was perfectly fine. With a smile she hid her face on his shoulder, closing her eyes tight just to hold her tears.

She had missed him so damn much.

What should she tell him? Most of the times words were unnecessary between them. She remembered how they used to communicate by just staring at each other, with just one look. Did they still share that connection despite the distance and time? She wanted to tell him how much she had missed him, how worried she had been for the past three years…

She wanted to ask him why he didn't answer any of her letters.

Yet all of the questions dancing inside her head died in her lips. Everything she had imagined about that moment, the reunion with his best friend, shattered into pieces. Everything she planned about that moment, everything she intended to say or ask to him.

Because, for the first time in ten years, Crona didn't hug her back.

The swordsman's arms stood rigid at his sides, unmoving, not showing any intention of hugging her back. Maka kept clinging to him; waiting… waiting… but Crona didn't give any signs of life. The only thing that was letting her know he was still alive was his chest moving against her, his quickened breathing.

Maybe if she waited a little more, maybe if she says something to him. Maybe he was still a little too shocked to react. It had to be that, she wanted to believe that… it had nothing to do with her ignored letters… letters Kid assured to her he had received.

Their hug suddenly got interrupted by the sound of a cough, making Maka to give up on her hopes, releasing Crona who just stood there rigid like a statue. Kim was staring at them with a sly smile on her face.

"Well! Do you guys want me to leave you alone? Maybe I should look the classroom just in case…" The witch mocked, laughing at Maka's blush. Crona didn't even react to Kim's insinuation.

"Kim…" Maka growled in warning, smiling just afterwards before hugging the pink-haired witch the same way she did with Crona. Kim hugged her back effusively.

"Yeah yeah, hi hi, can you tell me what the hell are you doing here? I'm not complaining! But it has been so long!" The young witch laughed while releasing Maka, looking at her from head to toe.

"Long story, I just wanted to come back… to see my friends" The blonde meister said, looking back at Crona who were standing just where she left him, his black eyes looking back at her in confusion.

"What about me, you damn fat cow!" Ragnarok roared on top of Crona's head, making the swordsman to snap out of his trance, the demon sword pushing his meister's head down so he could see Maka closer.

"Oh yeah, hello there mini-Ragnarok, as tiny as I remember you" The blonde mocked at him with a sly grin on her face, raising her hand to actually pet the weapon.

"And I'm seeing the same flat-chest ugly cow!" Ragnarok kept yelling at Maka while pummeling Crona's head with his kitten-like hands out of frustration. Crona finally let out a low whimper of pain.

"I have a nice big book with me that has your name on it, mini-Ragnarok, wanna meet it?" Maka asked now slightly annoyed, taking out of Shinigami-knows-where a huge book.

Seeing that book, the demon sword finally stood silent for a moment, almost like if he were measuring the risk/benefit. Soon enough, he just scowled before pushing Crona's head again and leaning over closer to Maka.

"You can take that book and shove it back into your…"

He couldn't finish the sentence. Ragnarok got suddenly silenced by a fist colliding against his jaw with unspeakable force. Stunned, Ragnarok laid limp on Crona's head, almost knocked out.

"Don't talk to her like that…" Crona growled to his weapon partner, his usual melancholic eyes now staring at Ragnarok with fearless determination. The weapon shook his head, staring at his meister for a moment before snorting an insult and retreating inside his body without another word.

Maka watched all this with surprise on her face. It wasn't the first time that Crona defended her from his obnoxious partner, but to see Crona actually REACT was what surprised her the most. It was the first authentic reaction she had seen since she arrived, a reaction from the Crona she remembered…

The Crona that promised to always be in touch with her.

"Woah… nice punch" Maka smiled at her friend while giving him a thumbs up. Crona looked back at her, and for Maka's delight he smiled shyly with a light blush on his cheeks. To be honest she didn't imagine her return like that, she didn't imagine her meeting with her best friend like that… and it hurt.

With a sigh Maka turned back to Kim, smiling again.

"Wow guys… then… are you both professors of Shibusen now?" The blonde meister asked while looking at both witches.

"I AM a Shibusen profesor, good Crona here is just my sexy assistant" Kim said with a huge smile on her face, laying her hand on Crona's shoulder. The male quickly turned to look at Kim, suddently back to life with that shameless comment.

"G-GAH! S-Sexy assistant? Me?" The young swordsman stuttered, stepping back a little while staring at Kim.

"Thats right! I'll tell Ox to make a sexy nurse outfit for you" Kim laughed while grinning at Crona. Maka couldn't help but laugh, noticing how his friend was retreating further and further from the witch.

"N-no Kim! I didn't sign up for this! It would be too embarrassing!" Crona whined. Ragnarok suddenly burst out of Crona's back, laughing; there was no way he was missing this.

"Ah hell you are! You are going to use the gayest miniskirt in town with fucking matching ribbons! You will stand in the classroom door being gay and shitting rainbows! Everyone will know you are this witch's little bitch!" The demon sword roared while pulling Crona's hair, the thin meister trying to push his weapon partner away.

"Actually is not such a bad idea…" Maka commented with a thoughtful expression on her face, tapping her own chin with her index finger.

"W-Whaaaat? B-but Maka!" Crona cried in shock while holding on Ragnarok's little fists.

"That is… only if we dress Ragnarok as well" Maka pointed out with an evil smile.

"Great idea! Let's dress Ragnarok with a little Disney Princess outfit!" Kim followed while grabbing the demon sword in a head lock.

"What the fuck?" The weapon yelled, trying to shove Kim away.

"And we'll make him dance at the beginning of every class!" Maka added with the same enthusiasm as Kim, both women with shining eyes and evil smiles.

"You bitches! You know what? Fucking forget about it!" Ragnarok growled before retreating again inside Crona's back, who only sighed in relief now that he knew the girls were just joking.

"I would never do that to you Crona, you know that" Maka smiled, leaning closer to see his face, adding with a teasing tone "Besides, with that coat you already look like a sexy devil"

Oh yeah, thank you a lot Maka, Crona was so looking forward to fainting that day. Thanks for helping.

"K-K-Kid t-told me to help K-Kim with her class, due to my p-past… he though I c-could be helpful…" Crona tried to explain while doing his best ignoring Maka's shameless comment. He now felt way too self-conscious for his liking.

"And he has been a great help indeed!" Kim said, hugging Crona closer with one of her arms around his shoulders "I'm the captain of this ship and Crona is my pegleg!

"Uhm… Thanks?" Crona said with uncertainty yet smiling due to Kim's arma round him "But if Im a pegleg, what is Ragnarok?"

"Pretty easy little brother, he is the annoying parrot!" The witch laughed patting his back, making the swordsman chuckle a bit. Maka looked at both of them quite impressed… Since when Crona and Kim were such good friends?

"Little brother?" Maka asked both of them with a raised eyebrow. Crona lowered his gaze with a light blush on his cheeks, letting out a little squeak when Kim grabbed him in a headlock, pushing him down until he was at the witch's height.

"Of course! Didn't you know, Maka? Crona is my little brother! At least we share a daddy, AM I RIGHT?" Kim laughed, giving Crona a sudden merciless noogie. "Did you hear that Cronaaaaa? You are my little brotheeeer!"

"Ow ow ow ow ow! Kim stop! Ow ow!" The swordsman whined, closing his eyes tight while enduring the rough treatment, yet he was smiling "A-and how you know I'm the youngest? Ow.. I-I could be older"

"Are you talking back to me LITTLE BROTHER?" Kim roared with an evil smile, giving Crona a harder and faster noogie.

"OWOWOWOWOW! Im sorry! Im sorry!" Crona apologized while trying to escape from the witch's embrace.

"Are you both for real?" Maka asked while looking at both of them. What they were saying sounded crazy, yet… looking now at both of them… it sounded almost true.

She couldn't help but compare both of them. Both pink-haired, both witches, Crona never knew his father and Kim got raised by the Witch Council… damn, as far as they knew, both could be actual brothers. Of course there were differences, like the tone of pink of their hair and their eye color, besides completely different personalities. But Medusa were blonde, that would explain why his hair was lighter, and the eyes… maybe Kim got them from her mother. Besides, both of them shared very important things: a natural kindness and noble heart.

Were they serious about this?

"Of course we mean it!" Kim answered Maka with the same smile, finally releasing Crona who quickly stepped away from Kim, gasping for air. "Well, it's not official! We haven't done any blood tests but… damn who cares? I always have wanted a little dummy brother to abuse!"

"Hell no!" Ragnarok screamed while popping out of Crona's back again "If that were true I would have forced Crona to commit damn suicide a long time ago! That would be way too embarrassing to live with!"

"Ragnarok! If you want to be here stop leaving! You hurt me every time you come out!" Crona complained at his weapon partner, giving a really annoyed look to the black blob sitting comfortably on his head like some kind of bizarre cat.

"Shut up Crona!" The demon sword roared, giving Crona his own dose of noogies.

"OWOWOWOWOW!"

Maka couldn't help but laugh at the scene in front of her, looking how Kim and Ragnarok were fighting over Crona. Well, maybe Kim was not his real sister, but she could tell both of them had reached a relationship close to that point. She was happy now, knowing that Crona wasn't alone when she left.

But, why did Kid say Crona had suffered? He had said something of the sorts, what could he mean?

One thing was for sure now that she was seeing Crona being pulled by Ragnarok and Kim: The swordsman was a big ass magnet for bullies.

A soft cough interrupted the discussion, making everyone on the classroom to look at the door where the sound had come from.

"I can see everything is in order?" Kid smiled with his arms crossed against his chest, looking at Crona with relief in his eyes. He was afraid that the pink-haired meister wouldn't be able to deal with Maka's return, but everything seemed just fine.

"Lord Death" Said Kim with a light bow, Crona smiling to the god before doing the same.

"Stripes!" Ragnarok yelled. It looked like his own version of "insolent salute" but, fortunately for him, being attached to Crona had its benefits, like being untouchable.

At least that's what he thought. Suddenly a heavy book crashed with mighty strength against the black blob, leaving Ragnarok flat as a pancake on top of the swordsman's head.

"You earned it good" Maka growled while glaring at the sword, showing him her book like a warning. Ragnarok barely mumbled one last insult before retreating pathetically back inside Crona.

"Didnt you miss those nice warm books, Raggy?" Kim laughed. At least for now, someone would be able to keep the demon sword in check.

"Thank you Maka" Kid said with a smile "Are you calm now?"

"Yep! Everything is just fine now" The blonde meister said while grabbing Crona's right arm, hugging him close, smiling to him. Crona looked back at her, his shock showing fully on his face.

Then something amazing happened for Maka, something that filled her with hope and brushed her doubts away. There, like before, appeared a big blush on Crona's cheeks, his eyes nothing but dark pools of shyness.

She wasn't the only one who noticed that reaction. Kid stared at Crona almost as impressed as Maka, his golden eyes watching the scene carefully. That reaction was perfect, it was a reaction that told the shinigami everything would be alright, Crona would be alright.

"Well, I believe now is the perfect timing to say that…"

"We have a PARTEEEEH!" Patty roared jumping on Maka and Crona, hugging them both by their shoulders. Just when the hell did she arrive? "Maka! You will be the honor guest! You will go to the party and tell us everything you've done, you can't miss it!

"And we mean it" Liz said while entering the classroom, smiling widely when she saw both meisters, specially how flustered the swordsman looked, how close he was to Maka. "you can't escape this girl, we already invited all of our close friend, everyone wants to know about you!"

"Yeah! We thought that, instead of telling the same story to everyone by separate, you could tell all of us together!" Patty pointed out with that big smile of hers, suddenly reaching closer to the blonde meister and staring at her VERY seriously "You will go, Maka Albarn, and that's final"

"S-Sure Patty… I wont miss it…" Maka whispered, quite frightened. Patty surely knows how to be intimidating when needed.

"Im sorry Maka, once an idea gets into their minds, not even me can convince them otherwise" Kid sighed, smiling again when he adressed Crona and Kim. "Every one of our friends will be there, it will be a small reunion in my house, just like in old times"

"Perfect! I'll go tell Ox!" Kim cheered, ruffling Crona's hair as a goodbye before leaving the classroom.

"By the way, I heard you left your luggage in the infirmary with Nygus… do you have a place to stay?" Asked Kid, looking at Maka with interest.

"Oh, hmmm… actually I thought about staying in shibusen's cells, I don't know if that's possible?"

"Nonsense, there is plenty of room in my house, you can stay there. Im sure Liz and Patty will love to have you in the mannor" Kid smiled.

"Hell no Kid, thank you but no, I dont want to be a burden, you have enough responsibilities as it is" Maka refused crossing her arms and looking at the god with seriousness. Maka hadn't returned to the academy to make her friends worry about her. Besides, she needed to be alone…

"Maka, im shocked you would think that, you'll never be a burden! Besides…" Kid stopped talking suddenly, noticing how Crona was almost crushing his own arm in a tight grip, his lips moving in a whisper "Is something wrong, Crona?"

"I-I said… you can stay with me…" Crona whispered looking at Maka, his blush still on his cheeks "I-I mean not with me! In the apartment, it used to be yours… your room is still empty, so I thought…"

"Really, Crona?" Maka asked with he reyes wide open. Yeah well… she did want to be alone, but the idea of being with Crona was a lot more tempting. The swordsman had always been a shoulder to cry on, a support in her life, a true friend. Besides, it would be just the two of them, quite different to have the noisy Thompson sisters around along with Kid's servants.

And she would be in her old apartment. Maybe the memories would help her to get some order in her life.

"S-sure… I wouldnt mind… b-but only if you want…" Crona said almost in a whisper, completely embarrased, his dark eyes looking at Kid who had a dark look in his face.

The shinigami seemed to be asking something to the swordsman. In his eyes there were many questions and he didn't look convinced about that idea at all.

"Of course I want! I would love to! Thank you so much Crona…" Maka smiled widely at her friend, getting close to him again to trap him in her arms, hugging him tight.

Maybe when they get to be alone Crona would tell her what happened to him during those long five years. Maybe he would confess why he never answered any of her letters.

Maybe she would discover why Crona wasn't hugging her back.

* * *

After class, Crona joined Maka to the infirmary where she left her luggage. Even when she complained, the swordsman rushed to carry her bags, the black blood giving him astonishing strength even when he was so thin. Maka smiled to that gesture of kindness, it was something that the old Crona would have done for her. It was somewhat comforting to know that he hadn't changed that much during those five years.

Everything would be fine now, they would go to his apartment, they would be alone and they'll have a talk, everything would be just fine.

Truth is Maka was sickly worried. There was something in the air, some odd kind of feeling, a discomfort and awkwardness she didn't remember at all. It was almost like… like if she was an intruder, a stranger in Crona's life. After all, she didn't get the welcome she had been waiting for from him.

Yet at the same time, and even with that odd feeling, Crona kept treating her just like she remembered him. He was a gentleman, kind and considerate, his blue eyes stared at her steadily just to blush when Maka noticed, just like in old times. He was still good old Crona, but there was something else…

Despite those little details, his behavior and manners, there was something amiss: she couldn't feel him. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't "feel" his soul wavelength.

Her grigori soul allowed her to "see" other people souls and measure the size of their wavelengths, but to actually "feel" one… it was needed a strong connection. It was different from feeling a witch's wavelength, that was similar to "smell" a predator, it just couldn't be ignored. No, to actually "feel" a soul wavelength, it was required a strong bonding. She could feel Soul wavelength just fine when she was close to him, and five years ago she could feel Crona's as well.

By "feeling" a soul wavelength, she could tell pretty much everything about that person. His humor, his feelings, his warmth, it was like a perpetual hug between souls. It was a step before resonance, and that bond actually helped resonance. She remembers she could resonate with Crona easily, as easy as she could with Soul. They would sometimes just resonate to feel each other's warmth; they would close their eyes and join their foreheads, melting together into the feeling of each other's soul.

She can't feel him now. It was almost a terrifying feeling, like being in the dark with your hand in the air, hoping to touch a friend to lead you in the dark… a friend you can't find.

Her train of thought got suddenly interrupted by Crona, who stopped in front of her. Well, actually she just bumped against his back, too distracted to notice that he had stopped just a while ago. The pink haired meister looked back at her, still holding her luggage.

"I-Is… everything alright, M-Maka?" He asked, his black eyes looking at her with worry. She had been awfully quiet during the whole walking to the apartment, both of them consumed in a very awkward silence.

"N-no… No Crona, everything is fine" Lies. Since when did she start lying to him? Probably since he stopped being honest with her. Crona was hiding something, she could tell just by seeing his eyes. Those deep dark eyes were never good at lying.

And his soul… maybe she couldn't feel him, but she didn't need to do that to know he was trying to hide himself from her. To actually know that Crona was trying deliberately to hide her things… it was unsettling. She felt back into the starting point with him: every trust they achieved during those years living together was gone.

She hoped to be wrong though.

"Uh… M-Maka… we are here" Crona said to her, looking at her with worry in his face and a little shaken. The blonde had stood in front of the apartment for some time now, just staring at him.

"… Oh! Im sorry, I think Im distracted today…" Maka chuckled a bit, smiling at him. The swordsman blushed, looking away just a moment, his face suddenly lighting up. He just had an idea.

Before Maka tried to get into the apartment, Crona took her by her shoulders and moved her beside the entrance door.

"Uh… Could you wait right nere?... J-just a second. I-I have a surprise for you… " He said with his blush getting stronger on his cheeks.

A surprise? But Crona didn't know she would be in Death City until an hour ago. Blinking a couple of times, she just smiled at him and nodded, stepping aside for him to get into the apartment.

Crona nodded back, taking a deep breath before leaving her bags inside the apartment. Looking around for a minute, he waited for any sound to be heard. He kept silence until he made sure the apartment was empty.

" I'm home!" He called from the entrance, leaving his keys beside the door, hanging on a very curious wooden black rose, its thorns working as holders for others sets of keys.

Soon enough, a ball of black fur ran out of one of the bedrooms, rushing to Crona and jumping right on his chest, purring.

"Welcome!" Greeted Blair, rejoicing on rubbing her body against his chest, the swordsman holding her firmly, smiling to her. He gently rubbed behind her ears with his fingers before whispering.

And for Maka's surprise, his stuttering disappeared like magic.

"I have a surprise for you" Crona said cheerfully to Blair while caressing her back, making the cat pay full attention to him.

"… sushi?" The magical cat asked, looking at him with those big Golden eyes of hers.

"Better than that"

" Lobster!?" She asked again now impatiently, her claws gently scratching the front of his black coat.

"Even better"

"You'll let me make a party in the apartment for all my friends at Chupa-Cabras!?" She almost screamed, eyes sparkling, wagging her tail back and forth in excitement. Crona stared back at her with one of his eyebrows slightly twitching.

"Ha! You wouldn't be that lucky!" A voice said in the entrance door making the cat to sit on Crona's shoulder so she could see who was there. Before the cat could guess again, Maka smiled at her with a huge grin. It took her a couple of seconds, but soon enough she jumped out of Crona's arms, tackling Maka. The cat's body covered itself in a purple cloud just before reaching the blonde girl, turning to human form just before hugging Maka, suffocating her with her huge breasts against her face.

"MAKAAAAAA! You are here! Makaaaaa!" Blair whined, holding on Maka tightly without caring for her muffled screams.

Crona watched the scene with a small smile on his face, his blue eyes looking at Blair who was at the edge of tears and Maka who was struggling for breath. He knew just how much the magical cat had missed the meister, and seeing her so happy made him happy. The cat witch was more than just a pet for him, she was his friend.

"Blair! You are choking her!" Crona warned to her, holding Blair by her shoulder and trying to get her away from Maka. As soon as the cat released the blonde, she turned on her heels to tackle now the swordsman.

"Thank you Crona! She's here! You brought her back!" Blair cheered while holding on Crona just the same way she did before with Maka., who was too busy trying to get back some air to help the poor shy man.

"B-b-blair! Down! Down" Crona stuttered, closing his eyes tightly trying to not pay attention at all the places the cat wish was rubbing against.

"Ohhh Crona, I'll go as down as you want me to…" Blair whispered at him with a perverted smile on her face, her golden eyes shining while her delicate hands started wandering on Crona's chest. The swordsman's face lighted like a tomato.

"Blair!" She yelled with his eyes closed, his face almost catching in fire due to embarrassment. Despite the time, Crona still wasn't used to Blair's human form around him. The worst thing was that time washed away Blair's inhibitions with Crona, making her act with him just the way she acted around other men. There was just way too much trust between them now, and Blair couldn't help but to flirt with the grown up meister at any possible chance she had.

It took a second, but the cat finally noticed that she was harassing him, quickly letting him go.

"Ups! I'm sorry Crona, Blair forgot!" The cat laughed, turning again to watch Maka, giving her a wide smile "I can't believe you are here!" Blair is happy!"

"I'm happy… to see you too… Blair" Maka gasped, smiling at her former pet, looking behind her to see Crona smacking himself a couple times, his face slowly turning back to his usual pale color.

"And Soul? Where is Soul? Soooooouuuuul!" Blair called, walking outside the apartment searching for the albino. Maka's face suddenly darkened.

Crona blinked a couple of times, finally realizing that Maka was alone… and she never mentioned him. Frowning, he walked closer to the blonde meister, unconsciously holding tight on his own arm.

"M-Maka… and Soul? " Crona asked with his voice lowered, looking at Maka who now seemed to be in great discomfort. He didn't like at all that look on her face, those emerald eyes filled now with worry. "Is everything alright?... did something happen?"

Maka turned to look at him, her green eyes showing for a second a spark of pain. She shook her head saying nothing, Crona quickly understanding that she didn't want to talk about it.

"He has a lot of work, he couldn't come" She just said at the end, shrugging. Blair made a pout, sighing in disappointment.

"Aww… Blair missed Soul so much… But Maka is here! We gotta celebrate!" The witch greeted, making a bottle of wine appear with a snap of her fingers.

"No Blair, truth is I'm really tired, it was a long trip" Maka sighed, smiling at the cat slightly. The last thing she needed was to deal with a damn party right now.

"Blair" Crona called to her "Kid is going to make a party tomorrow… I can take you with me, what you say?" He asked with a soft smile, making the woman's eyes almost sparkle.

"Yeeeessss!" She cheered completely happy, turning back to cat form before jumping on Crona, snuggling against his chest.

"Woah… is that a good idea?" Maka asked, looking at the cat with wary eyes. If there was something the meister remembered quite well about Blair, it was that she didn't know how to behave herself in parties.

"O-oh… she will be fine… she will be a good girl" The swordsman said while caressing the cat's back.

"Yesss! Blair is a good girl!" Blair purred against Crona's chest, utterly happy.

Maka couldn't help but laugh at the scene. It seemed that leaving Blair with Crona at the end resulted in a good idea. At first of course Maka had her own doubts about it, especially how Blair tended to flirt and seduce any male around her. It looked like the cat respected Crona… at least as much as you could expect from her to respect anybody.

It was there when Maka started to look around her. The apartment looked just like how she remembered it, except for some minor repairs here and there. What called her attention the most was how… empty it was. Crona only had a sofa and a small table in the living room, along with a cheap TV… and that was pretty much it. Between the TV and the sofa there was a large bookshelf, and for her delight it was almost filled to the top.

Of course the apartment wasn't big, but Crona had enough space to add a dinner table, just like the one they took to Germany when they moved. Yeah well… it's true that Maka and Soul left the apartment almost empty when they moved, but Crona worked for the Shibusen. Every student had a 200 USD weekly payment for their services, and Crona was a teacher assistant… he damn sure had money to fill the place. Yet there was nothing, not even posters on the walls or pictures, just a plain living room.

Nonetheless, the whole place was really clean.

"Wow Crona… for a single male, the place is pretty clean" Maka smiled, looking at the pink haired meister who just smiled slightly, releasing Blair from his arms so he could hold his right arm shyly.

"I-I don't live alone… I have Ragnarok and Blair…" He said while looking around, a hint of fear in his dark eyes "Uh… y-you want to see… your room?"

"Of course" Maka smiled, this time grabbing one of the two suitcases before Crona could, grinning at him while walking down the corridor where her room used to be.

Once they got inside, the blonde meister heard a low "eep" from Crona. The room was empty, surely, but maybe way too empty. There was nothing there, not her bed or her own bookshelf, her tv or her nightstand. Spirit had taken away all of her stuff the same day she got married. The place was clean, yet she could sense a faint smell, maybe humidity? It was the kind of smell that only abandoned houses had.

"G-gah! I forgot… there is nothing here" Crona said while looking around, blushing embarrased. "I'm sorry Maka… I just that I… haven't come in here in a while…"

A while? Maybe that would explain the smell of the room, the smell of abandonment. That room had been closed for years.

"Y-you can sleep in my room M-Maka… I just have to change the bed sheets, I'll sleep in the living room" Crona apologized, biting his own lip slightly, his long pink locks hiding some of the blush on his cheeks.

"Don't be ridiculous Crona, I can use Soul's room, right? I remember we didn't take his bed when we moved" The meister said while looking at Crona, frowning when she noticed how he started to shake slightly, definitely more nervous.

"I…. It's occupied…" Crona whispered, dodging Maka's eyes while clenching his arm tightly.

"Occupied?" Maka repeated tilting her head. Occupied for Blair? That wouldn't be a problem, but… why Crona seemed so worried all of the sudden?

"Yes, occupied" A voice said suddenly, calling both Maka and Crona's attention. The swordsman almost jumped to the ceiling, now shaking visibly.

At the end of the corridor there was a young woman staring at them with her hands on her hips. She looked quite young, maybe around 22 years old, her light brown hair combed in a high ponytail. She was wearing some camouflaged pink shorts and a white blouse, her chocolate eyes staring at Maka.

"What is the meaning of this, Crona?" She asked, glancing back to the tall man, talking to him in an authoritative tone while pointing at Maka's suitcases.

"Ah… ah…. T-this is Maka" Crona said stuttering, pointing at Maka beside him, his face getting pale by the second. "M-Maka, she is…"

"And may I know what is she doing here?" The brunette interrupted him, her voice raising making Crona fidget.

Maka couldnt believe what she was seeing. Ignoring her poor manners and her challenging pose, how she dared to talk to Crona like that? A loud hiss called the blonde's attention, looking down just to see Blair by her feet, hissing at that girl with her back bristling and claws extended. Whoever she was, Blair didn't like her at all.

"S-she is visiting… S-she is the f-friend I t-told you about…"

"I know who she is… Maka Albarn" The girl said in a low tone, it almost sounded like disdain. Maka started to feel just like Blair. "I want her out"

Crona hold on his breath for a moment, just a moment, before stepping forward with hurt in his face.

"B-but… but… I invited her to stay here…"

"An decision without my authorization! I want her out" She repeated, keeping her bossy tone of voice and her hands on her hips.

"B-but she's my friend… I havent seen her in…"

"Are you talking back to me, Crona?" She interrupted once again, her chocolate eyes staring at him with anger. Crona fidgeted again, stepping back. Maka couldn't handle it anymore.

"EY!" Maka almost roared, stepping forward while clenching her firsts, doing her best to control herself. "How dare you to talk to Crona like that? Who the hell you think you are?"

Maka was waiting for her to answer with an insult, maybe with anger; she looked like that kind of person. What she didn't expect was for the girl to actually smile at her, those brown eyes staring back, challenging her.

"I'm his girlfriend"

* * *

**AkireRosales**: Daaaaamn! How long it took? Im so sorrreeeeh! Between my finals and just how DAMN LONG this chapter was, it just took forever… But here it is! Chapter 2. Now, don't worry about the sudden appearance of that OC, this is NOT OC centered, I just needed a villain and for obvious reasons I couldn't use Medusa xDD

Please drop a comment! Let me know what you think! Even when this fic is already planned out to the very last chapter, if you want to see in here some scene or anything, tell me! I love to please my readers!

Thank you so much for the love this story has gotten. I try to answer every single review! So please keep reviewing! Keep me inspired!


	3. Meena

**Whispers**

**Chapter 3**

"**Meena"**

* * *

Silence filled the apartment, bringing an immense air of discomfort along. Crona refused to face Maka who in turn did not look away from that girl. In the meantime, the brunette was smiling with superiority, puffing out her chest proudly.

"...Girlfriend?" Maka repeated with incredulity, turning over to see the swordsman who was pressing his right arm vehemently "Crona?"

"Tell her Crona" Ordered the woman, frowning lightly at his silence.

Crona was shaking, his black eyes incapable of facing the two girls. He had feared that moment all day long ... he didn't want Maka to know about it.

"Maka... She is Meena, she is my... We live together" He was not going to call her girlfriend; he refused to use that title. For some reason he never liked saying it and he would not begin that day.

Meena was accustomed, Crona always called her "companion", but she didn't like the fact that Crona had said they ONLY lived together. Much less that he had said that in front of Maka Albarn. Oh Meena knew who Maka was, she knew the huge rol she played at Shibusen, and most of all she knew who Maka had been in the life of the swordsman.

And knowing all of that only helped to make her feel even more threatened by Maka. She had to show, right there and then, who owned the swordsman.

"That's right, Maka Albarn, and I hope you understand that we need ... privacy" Meena emphasized with a certain tone in her voice. Crona didn't perceive it, because he remained with his gaze low and pressing his lips. Maka on the other hand did catch the innuendo, feeling her entrails twist in anger.

To know that such a hideous woman like her was touching Crona ... She didn't deserve him. Maka was known because of her strong character and her short temperament, but never for judging someone without knowing that person. It was the first time that, by only seeing Meena, she could assure that she was a true bitch.

She reminded her of certain blonde twisted bitch, dead since five years ago.

"Well, Maka Albarn, it was wonderful to meet you, but my couple and I have to prepare dinner, and as you already realized we do not have a spare room for you" The brunette smiled almost cynically, looking askance at the blonde's suitcases. "Crona, help her and take her stuff out of here"

When Crona heard his name, he jumped in his place, his eyes changing from black to a light icy blue. No... No! He couldn't do that! It would be as much as kicking Maka out. He refused to do that, he refused to kick her out; he didn't want her to leave. He had invited Maka because he wanted to be with her, talk her, hear her voice...

A voice he hadn't heard in five years.

Staring at Crona, how he was shaking and how he didn't obey her right away, Meena's brown eyes narrowed. Frowning she addressed to Crona again, pointing at Maka's luggage.

"You have thirty seconds to take her things out of here, Crona" She ordered coldly. Crona began to shake, swallowing hard.

Maka could only look at the scene with her mouth half-open. Why? Why Crona allowed that woman, who apparently was his couple, to treat him like that? It did not make any sense! To begin with the Crona she remembered would never had accepted a relationship with someone that hurt him ... The Crona that she had left at Shibusen five years ago had developed enough of a backbone to acknowledge when someone hurt him on purpose.

It didn't make any sense!

A new hissing called their attention. Blair was looking at the brunette with authentic hatred in her golden eyes. That was another important clue ... Blair hating somebody? It was needed a lot to achieve that... And the cat was definitively seeing Meena with murderous eyes.

"...I have told you time after time that I don't want that animal at home" Meena growled while frowning deeply, giving Blair a look of disgust. Crona was shaking more and more, his contorted face showing nothing but horror, stress, fear... and anger.

Maka had spent enough time living with Crona to recognize that face. It was the same face he used to make every time he heard about his mother or right after waking up from a nightmare about her.

Meena provoked the same reaction in Crona than Medusa.

Maka was not going to stay with her arms crossed, seeing how her best friend was being raped psychologically again. Tense, with her face red with rage, she took a step forward ready to stand up for Crona and Blair when a stutter stopped her.

"I-I ... I invited M-Maka... Maka stays" He whispered lightly, his eyes incapable to turn over to see the girl at the end of the corridor.

"Are you contradicting my orders, Crona?" Meena asked with amusement in her voice, making Crona to become tense a little more "I should remember you that ..."

"Maka stays" The swordsman interrupted her, his blue eyes finally turning over to see Meena with the same determination that he had used in school to hit Ragnarok.

"She won't and the decision is final" Meena repeated, her cold eyes looking at Crona fixedly. It had been long since Crona revealed himself to her.

"T-This is m-my house" He said suddenly while clenching his fists, making Meena to open her eyes, almost impressed. "Maka is my friend ... I haven't seen her in years... I offered her to stay here ... She's staying"

Maka blinked a couple of times, watching that tall thin man fighting his own shaking and his fear. In spite of seeming terrified, Crona was using all his guts to impose his will, something that never before Maka had seen in him.

For her part, Meena's face started showing a bit of worry. Clearly she was losing her grasp on the swordsman, and that wasn't good at all. Being bossy to Crona usually worked to force him to obey; he was way too insecure to say or to impose his desires. The last time that that didn't work was when she had tried to kick Blair out of the apartment and Crona argued for the cat to stay.

Fortunately, she had an alternative method that had better results, one that Meena only used when she wanted the pink-haired man to renounce to all that had a sentimental value for him.

"Crona ..." Meena whispered, her brown eyes suddenly showing a glimpse of sadness. "What wrong? We cannot have another woman at home ... Am I not the only woman for you? Do you want me to leave?"

Meena managed to make her own eyes crystallized with false tears, blurting a sob out and covering her mouth with her hand. That had the effect expected in the sword meister who began to shake again. Crona's face filled up with remorse, guilt, everything mixed with his own impotence and his anger.

Crona did not want Maka to leave. He refused to separate from her, not now that he had her back right after five years. He wanted to be with Maka more than anything in the world, he wanted to listen to her voice, to take her hand...

Because Maka didn't reject him, as he had expected her to do.

" Meena ... that's not the point ... I..."

"Good, Crona, do you want her to stay? Perhaps she should! Let's sit all together in the living room and chat about your best days after she left!" Meena roared suddenly, her eyes showing anger but her lips twisted in a wicked smile.

Maka didn't understand that comment, but what she did understand was that that had been a threat. Blair increment her hissing, advancing a couple of steps barely controlling herself. Crona turned pale, his blue eyes getting out of focus... He was terrified.

"N-no ... No ... I... I'm sorry, I ..." Crona began to stutter again, shaking, stepping back. No, anything but that, Maka shouldn't know, she can't know!

Crona felt that intense pain in his chest again, in his heart. The horrible memories of that first year when he tried to survive without Maka, everything that happened, everything he did ... No, Maka couldn't know it. Maka would hate him, would repudiate him. No, no ... Anything but that!

The moderate shaking in his body got worse, his wide-open eyes looking at Meena. Crona hugged himself, his fingers digging deep in his own arms. He was on the verge of a panic attack.

And Maka recognized it immediately.

"You fucking bitch!" Maka roared looking at Meena, running to help Crona, embracing him with all her strength. "Crona, Crona here I am, everything is ok... you are safe, breathe please"

The meister tried to calm him, trying to prevent him from panicking, repeating the words that she remembered used to calm him down. Unfortunately, that used to go accompanied with a resonance, her soul joining up with the one of the swordsman to keep him stable and sane... She couldn't do that now, she couldn't even feel his soul wavelength.

And her words were useless. It seemed that even the physical contact with her was making him worse. Crona did not want Maka to touch him, he didn't want to be hugged by her ... He didn't deserve it. Maka was an angel, she was pure, she shouldn't be in contact with a dirty and disgusting devil like him. Because Crona knew it, he was a devil, a monster, an evil and dirty scum...

Crona didn't want Maka to touch him, and at the same time a very powerful part of him begged to be touched. A part of him cried for having her again at his side, to embrace her, to shout as loud as he could that he had missed her. That part inside of him was burning to be released and Crona was fighting it back to keep those impulses under control. The infighting was driving him crazy, literally. The panic attack seemed imminent.

Surprisingly, the most unexpected person went out to Crona's defense.

"The cow stays and it is final!" Ragnarok roared while he got out of his companion's back, his toon face showing a deep frown. The demon sword stared at Meena, bot of them not saying a single word.

I seemed there was a silent dialogue between her and Ragnarok, a fight of words that nobody could hear but them. The brunette's eyes danced around Ragnarok, looking at him fixedly with the same frown the demon sword had. At the end, surprisingly, Meena pressed her fists angrily before sighing defeated.

"...Well, she can stay for the time being, since you offered your help ... But we will talk about this later, Crona" Meena growled, snorting with bother before turning on her heels and leaving the apartment slamming the door.

Crona stared at Ragnarok totally impressed, unable to believe that the weapon had defended him. It was not his problem and however he had made something that only benefitted Crona. Maka was just as impressed.

"What the hell are you looking at!? I had enough listening to them fight! And damn I do not want to see Crona destroying the apartment in one of his fits!" Ragnarok roared before retreating inside his companion again.

Blair sighed, finally relaxing, remaining in between both meisters. Maka and Crona stood there in silence for a moment. The blonde was outraged and the anger had colored her face in a deep crimson, her fists strongly pressed against her skirt.

Crona for his part kept his head down, his breathing little by little getting back to normal. He didn't have the courage to see Maka to the eyes now and his body was still shaking lightly. Blair looked at both with concern in her eyes, suddenly jumping in Crona's shoulder and purring against his cheek.

That managed to take the swordsman out of his reverie, his hands rising to take Blair between his arms and hug her against his chest.

Crona would not blame Maka if she wanted to leave now... Meena had been really rude with her. He refused to see her face and discover in her eyes that anger towards him, or to see even pain... No, Crona didn't have the courage to face her now. She would certainly leave again; she would leave him alone just like he deserved to be.

"Crona..." Maka called him softly, making the swordsman to jump with scare, his shaking still visible in his shoulders. Crona tried to calm down clinging to the magical cat.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I'm sorry, she did not want ... I ... I'm Sorry" Crona began to apologize time after time, shutting his eyes tightly and turning his face away from Maka. Blair sighed again, jumping out of Crona's arms to land on the ground.

"You two have a lot to talk about" Blair told both, leaving to Crona's room without saying another word. Once there, she jumped in his bed and huddled up against the swordsman's pillow.

Even after the cat's words, Maka and Crona remained in silence. What just had happened couldn't be described with just mere words and Maka found herself still dumbfounded by the amount of information.

Crona had a partner, a nice girl four years younger than him that was a huge bitch of the worst kind. How had the sweet Crona ended up with someone like her? How did he know her? Why did he allow such abuse?

"Blair still sleeps in your room?" Maka asked all of the sudden, trying to initiate a conversation with him. She definitively would not question Crona right now about what just happened ... He looked way too unstable to deal with such an interrogatory.

"Ah… y-yes..." Crona responded, surprised because Maka didn't ask him about what just happened. His slight shuddering stopped and some color returned to his face, relieved that he didn't have to talk with her about it. "She c-can't be here when... Meena is... b-but every night I leave the w-window open so she can g-get inside... Today is her day off"

Well, that explained why Blair was at home so early. The cat kept on working in the men's club "Chupa-Cabras", where the schedule used to be from 8pm to 3am. Five years ago, when she and Soul lived in that apartment, the cat got very close to Crona. Close enough to the point that she had stopped sleeping with Maka and moved to his room. Yet she was not allowed to turn into human in the presence of the swordsman and amazingly Blair obeyed that... most of the time.

With a sigh, Maka took again one of the suitcases on the floor and started looking around. Crona opened his eyes, his stare finally leaving the floor to observe Maka with fear. Did she plan on leaving? The swordsman's black eyes got clouded with a feeling that the blonde could not decipher. Crona was looking at her with his best kicked-and-abandoned-puppy-like eyes.

Maka understood what he was thinking and she smiled.

"then… where do I stay?" She asked simply, keeping her smile. She had listened, of mouth of Crona himself, that he wanted her to stay... And actually she certainly wouldn't leave now. Oh no, now Maka would do everything in her power to remain all of her remaining vacations next to the swordsman, just because that was what that bitch of Meena didn't want.

Yes, Maka was a sweetheart like that.

Besides, that wouldn't even be a bother, much less a sacrifice. Quite the contrary, Maka was delighted with the idea of living again with Crona, just like in old times.

"Ah... ah... You still want to stay?" Crona asked with incredulity, looking at Maka's enormous smile as she got closer to him, her suitcase between her hands.

"Absolutely, I don't care about what she says Crona, I know that you want me to stay, and I want to be here" she responded with simplicity, keeping her smile. It was clear that what happened pissed her off, but that didn't matter now.

Crona kept on staring at Maka a long while, as if he tried to decipher a complex jigsaw puzzle. His dark eyes were filled with questions, with confusion, with way too many feelings for the blonde to understand. As getting out of an entrancement, Crona got startled for an instant, quicky returning to reality.

"Ah ... y-you can stay in my room, I-I just have to wash the bed sheets and..." Crona stuttered hurriedly, taking Maka's other suitcase and taking her to his room.

The swordsman's room was the same as the whole house. Clean, in order, and however it was perhaps the only place that had some life. She could easily see that it was the place where Crona spent more time in. There were a bed with a black bedspread, several stuffed animals where an old giraffe standed out and a chest below a wooden desk. In the desk there were some photos framed of his friends. A piece of the wall against the desk had several snapshots of Kid, The Thompson sisters, Black Star, Tsubaki, and many of Blair in several different situations.

Framed on the desk were a photo of Kim with Ragnarok and him, one of Prof. Stein and Miss Marie, and a photo of Death City's landscape at dusk, probably taken from one of the balconies of Shibusen.

"M-maka?" Crona asked, noticing how the blonde had gotten static in the middle of the room, looking at the photos in his desk. Taking the suitcase that the woman had between her hands, the swordsman took both suitcases to an empty corner of the room.

"I like how you decorated here" Maka smiled, turning over to see Crona who had a light blush on his face.

The pink-haired separated the black bedspread of the bed, noticing Blair cuddled between the bed sheets. The cat complained, opening an eye to face Crona.

"Blair wants to be covered!" The cat meowed, stretching herself on the mattress.

"Sorry Blair, I have to wash the bed sheets"

"Pff dont bother with that" Maka stopped him, taking the swordsman by his wrist, startling him lightly "It's just fine, you can do it tomorrow"

"b-but Maka, if you're going to s-sleep here ..." Crona stuttered, blushing to the thought of having Maka sleeping in his bed.

"I don't mind, besides it's too late for doing laundry, don't you think?" It wasn't really that late, but Maka didn't want to bother Crona with petty details like those. It wasn't like they were strangers...

And however, Maka felt like one now... A complete stranger to him.

"t-true... sorry Maka, I forgot that your journey was long" the swordsman apologized, returning the eiderdown to the bed. Certainly the young meister wanted to rest as soon as possible and washing the bed sheets would just keep her waiting. Crona refused to keep her waiting, refused to make her feel uncomfortable.

Crona wanted Maka to stay.

"D-do you want to rest now? It's a bit early..."

"Sorry Crona, it's the change of schedule, remember that I come from Germany" Maka smiled to him, sighing lightly. In the window of the room she could steel see the sunset, but the blonde didn't think she would be able to stay awake much longer.

The anger of moments ago had drained the rest of her energy.

" o-of course..." Crona responded, feeling silly by not remembering the difference of schedules. Turning over to see the bed, he noticed Blair way too comfortable to wake her up again. It would be better if she spent the night with Maka.

"I should sleep in the living room, Crona, this is your apartment" Maka stopped him, taking him by the wrist again, startling him.

"Ah ... N-no, of course not M-Maka ... this is your apartment as well ... And I'll sleep in Soul's room ..." Crona said dedicating her a light smile, one than Maka responded frowning. It was not Soul's room anymore, it was Meena's. "G-get some rest M-maka... W-will I see you in the morning?"

"Well duh, of course dummy, where would I go?"

"Uhm, right…" Crona said with a blush of embarrassment in his face. Gently, he took Maka's hand between his own, his black eyes staring at her… It was real, she was really there with him… just like old times. His rough slender hands gently caressed her skin, smiling softly.

Maka smiled, advancing a couple of steps with the intention of embracing him. Surrounding him between her arms, Maka pressed herself firmly against him.

"I missed you..." She whispered while hiding her face on the crook of his neck.

Crona's body shivered violently, getting stiff between Maka's arms. The blonde remained there, clinging to the swordsman's thin body in an attempt to feel his soul wavelength answer to the cries of her own soul.

She didn't feel anything.

Crona slowly looked down, his black eyes staring at her sand-colored hair. Maka was hugging him again, and now she even said that she had missed him ... Did she really have said that? Or was it just his imagination? But ... but then...

Recovering respiration, Crona laid down her hands lightly in the waist of Maka, not separating her, but not bringing near more either to her. It was not a hug, but it had not remained static like statue either. Maka could consider it an advancement.

With a sigh, the blonde finally let him go, separating from him. The swordsman was acting strange, he was changed and Maka wasn't sure that she liked that change. There was something, Crona was hiding something from her.

"We speak tomorrow?" She asked to the sword meister. Crona swallowed hard, nodding while retreating from the room. Once alone, Maka let herself fall heavily in bed.

It hadn't been like she had imagined it at all.

The day had been ok until she got to the Death Room to find out that Crona didn't know she was in Death City. From there it got worse when she noticed that she had lost her friend, she lost him at some moment during those five years. She had expected to see the timid young man that she left when she got married. She had expected to talk to Crona just like before, to feel him just like before. She had expected a hug that she needed desperately, a hug that never came.

"He is only in shock"

Maka jumped with surprise in bed, forgetting for an instant that Blair was there. The cat yawned before stretching herself, leaving the comfortable pillow in bed to face the blonde meister.

"Incredible as it may seem, Crona has dreamt about this moment since you left" Blair smiled, looking at Maka attentively.

"Blair… who was that girl?" The question took the cat by surprise, her countenance changing over to a darkened one, her golden eyes looking at one random point of the room with disdain.

"Blair does not like to talk about her" the cat growled "She arrived with Crona when he came back from his journey… I can't say more"

"But, Is she really Crona's girlfriend ?" The blonde asked frowning. Blair turned over to see Maka, his golden eyes showing anger.

"She is everything but that… but Crona does not understand it… Blair can't say more"

Maka frowned, looking at the black cat who simply went back to get comfortable next to the pillow to resume her nap. She could try to bribe the cat in order to find out more, but why couldn't Crona explain to her instead? She would ask him the next day, they definitively needed to talk.

Heading to one of her suitcases she began to search through her things for her pajamas, some yellow silk pants and a shirt of buttons. Between her things, yher eyes glimpsed a metallic box… the box that contained the mail that she had gotten from Crona for two years. Two out of five years…

She felt the urge to take those letters out and read them just to get some comfort. That was stupid nonetheless… why would she read some old letter when the swordsman was just a room of distance from her? With a sigh she closed her luggage and dropped herself on Crona's bed.

Sighing deeply, she immediately catched Crona's scent all over the pillow and the bed sheets. For being male, the swordsman always smelled good… not like flowers of course, that would be nonsense, but she liked his smell.

This would be good for her; she needed a break from her life, a break from routine, and a break from Soul. She could focus now on more important things… like finding out what is going on in Crona's life. She had missed him so damn much, their talks, the silent walks, the reading sessions, his voice, his smile…

Everything would be fine now, even if Crona had a bitch digged in his ass, she would help him… Hugging the pillow tightly against her chest, she closed her eyes and imagined that she was falling asleep in his arms like she used to when they read together at night.

With those old warm memories, Maka quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Once outside the room, Crona took a deep sigh, his hands shaking lightly. While he was heading to the living room, the swordsman couldn't stop thinking about all the events of the day.

"Do you really plan on sleeping in the bitch's room? She hates you entering there!" Ragnarok vociferated while getting out of Crona's body, landing on the head of his meister.

"Of course not, but if I tell Maka that I'm sleeping in the living room, she would be mad" he sighed, flopping into the sofa of the living room, stretching himself through the piece of furniture while looking at the roof. "I don't understand... I don't understand Ragnarok..."

"Bah, that doesn't surprise me at all; the day that you understand something, that day will be turned into holiday!" The demon sword laughed, entering Crona's body just to come out of his chest, looking at him intently "And why the hell did you offer her to stay here?"

"... I wanted to be with her..." Crona whispered, his black eyes showing now a deep sadness. He breathed deeply, unable to prevent his eyes from filling with tears.

"Idiot..." Ragnarok growled, punching Crona's chest before laying there like a domestic cat, looking at his partner fixedly. "Now what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I do not understand ..." He whispered, closing his eyes trying hard not to cry, taking deep breaths "all these years... and... she appears just like that and tells me those things, I... I don't know if I can deal with that..."

Ragnarok remained in silence, looking at Crona fixedly, his toon face showing no emotion.

"Maybe ... Maybe if I ask her why she didn't write me back for the last three years..."

"Don't even think about it!" Ragnarok roared, giving a strong punch on the head to his companion.

"OW! Ragnarok! What did I do?" Crona complained, rubbing the punch on his head.

"You are an idiot, Crona! What the big idea? Asking her "Oh Maka! Why you didn't write to me for three years? Don't you love me anymore? Don't you want to be with me?" The demon sword whined with a high-pitched voice trying to sound like Crona, but sounding more like a pig being butchered.

"Did you forget that she is married, you huge retard?" Ragnarok whispered low enough so the conversation remained for the two of them only.

Crona lowered his gaze, his black eyes crystallized by tears, dodging the ones of his weapon. He hadn't forgotten it, how would he? But the fact that Maka didn't write him in spite of all the letters that he had sent to her...

Crona kept sending her letters during all those five years, even when she stopped responding.

"She is married in her perfect happy life, as far as we know it's quite possible that he has children! Do you really think that she has time for you? No! If you ask her that, you will obtain an answer that will hurt you, so just focus on having a good time while the cow while it last, because she will leave sooner or later, remember that!"

And after his harsh words, Ragnarok disappeared inside Crona, letting the swordsman immersed in his thoughts.

Ragnarok was right. Was the reason of why Maka never responded his letters really important? Truth was it didn't matter, be because she was busy or because he didn't want to answer him, any of those answers would be painful: She was not interested in him, just as Meena had said to him once. But, it was too strange... Maka didn't behave as he had gotten to imagine that she would.

Instead of cold and distant, Maka had behaved just as he remembered her: Like an angel. She had embraced him, she had defended him of the abuses of Meena, and besides she had told him that she had missed him.

Crona leant on the sofa sideways, sighing discontinuously, shutting his eyes tightly.

There was no point in asking those things to Maka. Ragnarok was right, she was married and her stay in Death City was temporary. He should focus on having a good time at her side while he could, treasuring every moment before losing her again. He should swallow his insatiable need for her, his thirst for her; he should keep restraining his soul that cried for feeling Maka's wavelength. The years hadn't made him forget what he felt for her; he simply had buried his feelings.

With Maka just a room of distance, Crona could feel all those painful feelings of unrequited love returning to him. But they were not alone; they were coming accompanied with an intense pain of solitude, abandon, and the sadness of having not heard from her.

For three years Maka forgot about him, and that was the most painful thought that haunted his mind.

In the silence of the apartment, Crona shut his eyes tightly, choking back a sob in his throat, a lonely tear running down his cheeks.

* * *

In one of the bars of Death City, certain brunette was sitting on a table enjoying the drinks at the table that she shared with other girls of almost her age. Music wasn't too high, allowing conversation. All the girls were laughing of what it seemed to be a very funny joke, all less one.

"Come on Meena, you should be happy that your man started growing some balls!" One of the girls laughed while taking a sip from her drink.

"Pff Crona couldn't be a man even after a hormonal treatment" Meena snorted with bother while she fidgeted with a wineglass between her hands. "But the way he reacted…"

"Ahhh I got it!" another of the girls said suddenly, whamming the table with her can of beer "You are worried that that woman's arrival be what Crona needs to open his eyes and find out that you are a first-class bitch"

"Maka Albarn…" Meena growled, almost spitting the name as if it caused her a bad taste of mouth "The meister that destroyed Medusa Gorgon, turned Soul Eater into a Death Scythe, and defeated the Kishin"

"The first love of your wallet" one of the girls laughed, making everyone on the table to laugh as well. Meena smiled.

"With so many achievements it's not a surprise that Crona is spellbound by her"

"I don't think that you should underestimate that man's feelings, Meena" one of the girls whispered, her eyes staring at the brunette "For what you have told us, she was his first and only friend, his first crush, her word will have more weight than yours, you saw it today"

"Besides, you haven't made a lot to make Crona really feel that you need him"

"In that you are mistaken" Meena smiled, her chocolate eyes looking at her friend with a brilliance of malice "Maka Albarn's arrival can be useful, she'll be here for a few days only, that will reinforce the fact that Crona only has me. After all, his dear friend stopped writing him for years, isn't it?"

All the girls around Meena laughed.

"Since I told him that she had forgotten about him, Crona is more focused in me"

"There is a problem in your plan, friendly mistress" Said the girl that was holding her beer can, smiling mockingly "What is going to prevent Crona from discovering the truth?"

"I don't worry about that" Meena smiled, stopping fidgeting with the wineglass between her fingers "Ragnarok had the whole day to say anything and he didn't, so I trust that he will prevent Crona or that nosy woman from knowing the truth"

"But didn't you say that he threatened you today?"

"I suppose that I pressed too much hahahaha… ahhh poor Crona, I thought that he was going to shit himself" Meena laughed, raising her wineglass for a toast "For Ragnarok and Crona, whose cooperation and money made this meeting possible"

"For them!" All the girls made a toast, arranged to have a good time the rest of the night.

* * *

**AkireRosales**: Hello there! Im so happeeeh! I just got installed an awesome translator that will help me to deliver the chapters faster :D this only took me a couple of hours! What you think? still good? better? At least I hope you are enjoying the reading! I know the plot is moving slowly, but trust me we are getting there xD you'll find out a lot more in next chapter!

Soooo... reviews? Pweaseeeee! They are the only reason why I write! (that and to promote CroMa! MOAR CROMA! MOAAAARRR!)

REVIEWS!


	4. Lying to himself

**Whispers**

**Chapter 4**

**Lying to himself**

Crona sighed half asleep, his tired face showing some permanent bags under his eyes making him look older. After leaving Maka sleeping in his room in the afternoon, Crona remained lying-down in the sofa of the living room, looking at the ceiling until he fell asleep, demolished by the events of the day. Now, while half asleep, said events did not seem to be more than just part of a dream ... a beautiful dream where he had Maka back.

Soon his sense of smell began to notice what seemed to be ... Hot cakes? Maybe ... and bacon, he could perceive the aroma of hot coffee and eggs ... The aroma was too strong to ignore it.

"I'M HUNGRYYYY!" Ragnarok roared, popping all of a sudden out of his companion's back and catapulting him out of the sofa. Crona fell to the floor with a whine of pain.

"Ragnarok! What the hell!?" Crona complained massaging his rear end, looking at his weapon who began to pull his hair like some kind of reins.

"Giddy up Crona! To the kitchen! Something smells delicious!" Ragnarok yelled ignoring the swordsman's complaints. Crona sighed, getting up from the floor and heading to the kitchen.

It seemed pretty early, the house being lighted by the bright oranges and yellows of sunrise. It was unusual for Meena to be up so early, and for her to prepare breakfast ... usually she only bought the pantry and he cooked.

At the end everything had been a dream, like many other times. It had been a year since the last time he had a dream about Maka, dreams where she returned at his side... But that dream had seemed so real.

A foolish thing of course, Maka would never return to him, Maka didn't care about him.

"Good morning..." Crona greeted rubbing one of his half-lidded eyes, stretching out slightly. His pink-colored hair ruffled everywhere showing some mayor pillow-head case. Ragnarok sat on his head ruffling his locks even more.

"Good morning!" Maka's cheerful voice greeted him inside the kitchen, smiling enormously at Crona who opened his eyes widely, looking at Maka as if she were an apparition.

It hadn't been a dream.

"M-M-Maka!" Crona almost shouted, holding into the doorframe to avoid falling on his back "y-you are here! Ah... Gah! You're still here!"

"Of course imp still here you big dummy, where would I go?" Maka asked with a smile while turning over some hot cakes "Why don't you sit down? I almost finish"

Maka was in his kitchen preparing breakfast ... Maka was in his department, in pajamas, preparing breakfast ... Maka had slept in his room, in his bed, in pajamas...

"I bet that you want to go and rub your perverted face all over that bed..." Ragnarok whispered in his ear, making Crona to blush like a tomato.

"You better leave Crona alone in my presence, Ragnarok" Maka threatened the demon sword, pointing at him angrily with the spatula she was using to turn over the hot cakes.

"Watch your tongue you damn cow! I would never do something like that!" Ragnarok said with an innocent tone, bending over a little more to whisper in his companion's ear "morning wood at six"

"G-GAH!" Crona took down his hands immediately, covering himself totally embarrassed making Ragnarok roar in laugh. Before Maka turned over to see them again, Crona sat on the kitchen's table rapidly.

"Crona, are you alright? You look upset " Maka asked arching an eyebrow, looking at Crona who seemed a tomato in season and Ragnarok that kept on laughing.

"I-Im f-fine M-Maka..." Crona stuttered, chuckling nervously while trying to recover some composure.

"Did you know that I can harden the blood there? It would be funny seeing you walk all day long with that..." Ragnarok kept whispering on his ear with a huge smile on his face.

Before the sword saw it coming, Crona catched his head between his hands and began to punch him to make him shut up. Both quickly engaged in a fight of fists and silent slaps in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, not silent enough.

"Enough you both!" Maka roared pointing at them with the hot frying pan "Ragnarok! Leave Crona alone!"

"But mommyyyy! He started it!" Ragnarok whined with his best little girl's voice interpretation. He still sounded like a pig being butchered.

"I am not giving you any breakfast" the meister threatened him, looking at him fixedly with her green eyes. The sword finally stopped hitting Crona.

"... Bah! What the fuck ever!" Ragnarok snorted, sitting obediently on the swordsman's head as if he were a hat.

Crona sighed, the blush finally yielding of his face. Looking down for a moment, he noticed that his problem no longer existed. Calming down he got up to help Maka, fixing the table for breakfast.

"Crona..." Maka called him while the swordsman served coffee in a cup, leaving it next to the blonde's dish "Didn't you say that that girl was sleeping here too?"

"Girl?..." Crona asked tilting his head a moment, frowning. For an instant he had forgotten to what she was referring to, but soon his memory began to work again "oh... Y-yeah, she lives here... B-But she not always comes to sleep, and she doesn't s-spend much time here..."

"She doesn't come to sleep?" Maka turned over to see him, frowning while serving in the dishes a couple of hot cakes with fried eggs on top and bacon strips around. "And don't you ask yourself where she is?"

"Hm... Should I?" The swordsman asked with authentic innocence in his voice, taking out of the old refrigerator a bottle of juice. "She is with her friends most of the time, and if it is too late she stays with them to sleep"

Maka couldn't believe what she was hearing. Crona was with someone that didn't arrive to sleep and didn't inform where she was. She was sure that if Soul got to do something like that, she would kick him so hard that even his family would feel it.

"And do you agree with that?" Maka asked frowning, noticing how Crona poured juice in his glass. She had forgotten that he didn't drink coffee.

"... Is it wrong?" Crona asked back, tilting his head. Maka could only sigh, shaking her head ... Damn, as far as she knew it was possible that that girl was married and she was just using Crona.

Ah, if that bitch was using Crona ... there was a true hell waiting for her in Maka's hands.

"Never mind, sit down for breakfast" the blonde said smiling, serving two more dishes with extra hotcakes "and these are for you, glutton"

"Look who's talking! You need a diet badly!" Ragnarok vociferated, holding out his tongue trying to catch the dishes. An iron grip on his tongue stopped him.

"S-show some r-respect for the food that Maka cooked for us... And g-give her thanks" Crona ordered with a serious face, making the blonde to look at him shocked.

Crona had changed more than what she had supposed.

Ragnarok tried to pronounce all his repertoire of insults with his tongue out, but Crona's grasp was such that the sword could not release himself. Looking defeated, the sword agreed with a deep frown on his face.

"Thanksforthefoodyoudamncow! There, I fucking said it!"

Crona sighed, shaking his head before raising the dishes above his head, allowing his companion to devour the food.

"Woah Crona... Are you teaching him good manners?" Maka laughed making the swordsman to smile lightly.

"Do you think that he's a lost cause?"

"Uhm... Perhaps you should buy those necklaces for dogs that electrocute when barking" the blonde laughed while she began to eat. Crona smiled.

"And you should buy a damn dildo! Perhaps that would make you loose a bit and be less neurotic!"

"R-ragnarok!"

"Oh yeah? I'm going to make you swallow that turned-on dildo and won't let you spit it until it runs out of batteries!" Maka threatened back, ignoring the swordsman's shocked face.

"Try it damn cow! Just try it!" Ragnarok roared pummeling in his courage on Crona's head.

Suddenly Blair jumped on the table, looking at Maka and Ragnarok arguing.

"There's so much activity this morning! I heard you were talking about dildos? Oh, I can help!" The magic cat laughed before turning human. Snapping her fingers, she came up with a mountain of many-colored sexual toys, all of different shapes and sizes.

"B-B-BLAIR!" Crona shouted alarmed, covering his eyes "w-we are eating! Take that away!"

"Don't be such a crying baby Crona and pass me that barbed one! I'm going to shove it up her ass!" Ragnarok roared while trying to reach one of the teething rings at the table.

"Try it and I will make you swallow all those dildos!" Maka growled back, threatening him with her raised fork.

"Are they gone!?" Crona shrieked while still covering his eyes, making Blair to laugh at the hilarious scene in front of her.

That morning had been the most cheerful they all had had in years.

* * *

After the chaotic breakfast, Crona started his routine of every morning. The swordsman took a bath, combed his long and still chopped pink mane and got dressed with black pants, a white shirt, and the same black gabardine of yesterday. The blonde was smiling, looking at him moving from here to there.

"Crona ..." Maka called him while she finished drying her blond hair. She had taken a bath right after Crona, because for some reason the swordsman almost fainted when she told him that she would bath first.

Ragnarok laughed a lot during Crona's nervous fit, perhaps he had something to do about it.

"Y-yeah?" Crona responded while he finished wearing his boots seated in the sofa of the living room.

"You slept in the living room" Maka told him while frowning, laying down both of her hands in her hip and looking at him with harshly. Crona recognized that pose immediately with one scared squeak, his black eyes looking at her like a child caught in a mischief.

"Ah... Its ok, it doesn't bother me"

"It bothers me" Maka scolded him, slowly softening her gaze and sighing at Crona "I didn't agree to be here just to take your room"

"N-no Maka! I will buy you a bed, it's not a problem..."

"Crona Makenshi, I will not let you spend money in me, remember that I will be here only for a few days" Maka interrupted him, really bothered with the idea of Crona spending his money on her. However, Crona's reaction made her stop her scolding.

Crona seemed grieved, looking at her for the second time like a beaten and abandoned puppy. Had it been because she refused to be helped? Bah, it was the history of her life ... Besides it was Crona, who in one way or another always had tried to show his affection towards her no matter how.

What Maka didn't know was that, what really had hurt the pink haired meister, had been her affirmation: She wouldn't be there with him for too long. It was the same thing that Ragnarok had said to him yesterday.

Holding his arm tightly, Crona simply sighed before nodding lightly. Maka felt remorse seeing him so down all of the sudden... And damn, Crona was just too good making that sad puppy face.

Blair, on the other hand, understood the reason of the swordsman's sadness perfectly. Crona was very good lying to himself, but never lying to other people and much less to Blair. The cat had been against his chest every night the swordsman cried himself to sleep. During those nights he used to show that same sadness she was seeing now in him. All those nights when he cried for Maka after she left.

"Cronaaaa! I refuse to be here, take me to your class" Blair said suddenly, climbing the swordsman's leg all the way to his shoulder, rubbing herself against his cheek. "Ey, I know what! Take us both! And you promised to take me to a party!"

"To the class?" Crona repeated raising his head, smiling lightly due to the cat's attempts to comfort him.

"good idea, I want to see Professor Crona in action" Maka smiled widely, having a good time as the sad face of her friend changed from sad to totally flustered.

"Aahh! Don't say that, I am only helping K-Kim ..." He whispered rubbing his hands nervously.

"Lies! Crona should apply for professor, Aaaah and Ragnarok is a beast in class" Blair laughed, sitting on the head of the swordsman.

"Ragnarok? What can he say to young witches? In fact I would forbid him from taking his dirty mouth into any class "Maka smiled, knowing perfectly that Ragnarok was listening.

And she wasn't mistaken.

"You damn fat cow! I am one hell of a professor!" Ragnarok roared getting out of Crona's back, but unable to occupy his seat in the head of his companion because it was already occupied by Blair "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE HAIRBALL! This is MY place!"

"Make me!" Blair hissed, clinging to Crona firmly.

"Would you return my head back to me please?" Crona sighed, knowing that his words fell on deaf ears. Strangely, Ragnarok and Blair took no time to separate from him, the cat meowing scared hiding under his gabardine.

"That's better" Maka muttered, slowly withdrawing the enormous book that had threatened both plagues with. Crona smiled in gratitude, but a discreet punch on his ribs made him squeak.

"Crona, we'll be late! Four eyes will get angry!" Ragnarok reminded him, straightening his companion's hair before taking seat on his head.

"Four eyes?" Maka asked arching an eyebrow, making Crona to smile lightly. The swordsman looked down to make sure that his clothing was in order, straightening his gabardine a little more.

"I-I believe that's Ragnarok's nickname for Professor Stein" Crona explained while saving the apartment keys into one of his inner pockets. "Uh... You sure you want to come? It can be a little boring ..."

"Nonsense, it can't be more boring than to be here waiting for you" She smiled, enjoying seeing the blush on his friend's cheeks. Besides, definitively she didn't want to be alone in the apartment if that girl of the other day returned...

That is, if for any (completely not her fault) circumstance Meena had a lamentable accident and was found dead... Maka would need an alibi not to be discov... blamed.

During the long walk to the academy, Maka couldn't avoid looking at the swordsman from head to toe. If there was something that had intrigued her from the beginning it had been Crona not wearing his usual black robe ... And those clothes...

Maka wasn't a fan of Gothic fashion but damn! That outfit suited Crona nicely.

"Ey..." The blonde meister called him, making the pink-haired male to turn over with a light jump of surprise "Say uhm... Do you want to impress anyone in particular wearing those clothes?"

Crona opened his eyes widely, the colors running up his face. Ragnarok couldn't avoid chuckling mischievously on top of his companion's head.

"Answer the question you retard!" The sword roared, pinching the swordsman's cheeks while laughing.

"N-nothing like that!" Crona complained, pushing his companion away from his face "M-my robe ripped during my journey... I-I couldn't keep repairing it..."

That made sense... in a way.

"What surprises me is that it had lasted that long..." Maka joked, getting close to Crona to give him a light pat of comfort in his back. She knew that the swordsman had been very attached to that robe.

"I-Is not like that... I always used the same robe since I have m-memory" Crona explained, blushing a little feeling Maka's hand in his back "…S-She… she always fixed it with her magic, or made it bigger when I grew up..."

Maka frowned, stopping her touch on Crona's back to walk at his side, observing his facial expression attentively. The blonde always got worried when the meister talked about his mother, but he seemed to be calm.

"d-during my journey I learned how to patch it, but ..."

"Wait..." Maka said stopping in the middle of the road, making Crona to stop suddenly "When you were wounded in battle I remember that your injuries healed along with your clothes"

"That is because his robe was made by Medusa and it was made of black blood" Ragnarok explained, comfortably installed in the head of his companion "I could manipulate it as if it were a second skin, but the enchantment that the old witch used wore off"

That made sense. Maka made out a sound of assent, continuing the long walk to Shibusen. Crona sighed, lifting his left hand to hold his arm lightly.

With his new outfit the swordsman's always fallen shoulders now were sticking out slightly. The tight gabardine along with the belt kept his hourglass figure, revealing a wide back product of the years brandishing Ragnarok. He would never be another Black Star, or even reach half of Soul's toned body (it was required a lot of food for that) yet he had his own singular physical appeal.

A perfect set for Crona, fashionable and comfortable for the missions. Definitively it was Liz Thompson's election.

"I like how you look" Maka smiled, admiring the thin figure of the pink-haired meister.

Crona squeaked obviously surprised and embarrassed. Barely being able to stutter a shy "thanks", the swordsman could practically feel smoke coming out of his ears. Blair stuck her head out from one of the gabardine bags, laughing due to Maka's bold comment. Ragnarok stood in silence.

* * *

The class was one of the firsts in the morning, under the aegis of Professor Stein.

The living room was full of pupils that seemed to have between 15 and 17 years, they all had their companion alongside, all of them with a look of boredom on their faces. They seemed pupils of two and three stars, definitively an advanced class.

Crona was waiting in front of the class, dying in nervousness. He was holding his right arm strongly while waiting for Professor Stein's arrival, looking at the young students he would be talking to shortly. Maka never imagined Crona like a professor, he was way too nervous, shy and extremely insecure. She could see that he was on the brink of one of his nervous fits.

With a smile Maka left the seat where she had been in the front row of the classroom to stand next to Crona and hold his hand tightly, smiling to him. Crona looked at her with his blue eyes wide-open, slowly relaxing bit by bit. Maka was there, she wouldn't judge him. She had never judged him before, although to have to do that demonstration in front of her…

What the hell was he thinking when he invited her?

Oh yeah, he didn't invite her, Maka and Blair invited themselves.

The entire group observed attentively how the legendary Maka Albarn was holding on Crona's hand, who spite his current status remained known as "Shibusen's Traitor". All the eyes were on them and it wasn't long before somebody began to whistle at them suggestively. Soon several pupils followed the example, making Crona to blush like a tomato, releasing Maka's hand. The entire group burst out laughing.

"Silence" A firm voice was heard in the classroom's entrance, revealing Professor Stein rolling inside the room seated in his old desk chair. Maka noticed that the professor hadn't fallen down on the way in as usually, he seemed to have perfected his entrance.

Or at least that's what she thought at first, until she saw the chair rolling all the way to the wide wooden desk in the middle of the classroom, crashing harshly making Professor Stein to fall on the floor on his back. The students choked back a laugh in their mouths, they definitively wouldn't laugh at professor Franken Stein.

"P-Profesor" Crona shook his head, smiling before stretching his hand and taking the one of the old meister who thanked the help with a nod of his head. Taking the hand of the witch's child, Stein got up from the floor.

"You decided to help" Stein greeted him with his usual serious face, lifting his hand to turn a couple of times the screw in his head, watching next to the pink-haired to look at Maka. "Maka"

"Good day, Profesor Stein" Maka greeted his former teacher with a smile. Blair jumped out of Crona's pocket to run at the blonde's arms. Catching the cat in her arms, the meister gave Stein a light bow with her head before taking sit in the front row of the classroom.

"Good day students" Stein greeted the whole classroom room while picking his chair back up from the floor, taking seat in it with the back against his chest. "As you know, the last class we commented about the use of the soul wavelength as an independent weapon. For fortune of yours, the demonsword meister Crona agreed to help this class with a demonstration".

At the mention of his name, Crona clenched on his right arm tightly. The young man knew perfectly that his reputation preceded him and not exactly the good one. He could notice how several of the students were looking at him with suspicious eyes. By now none of the students that had witnessed the Kishin's awakening kept on studying in Shibusen, but Crona's name was well known in school and in Death City. Hell, his name was in the history books of the Academy! An entire chapter dedicated to him, Medusa Gorgon and the awakening of the Kishin.

Crona looked terribly worried. It wasn't the same to give a lecture to humans and users that knew his sins, to a group of rebellious witches that couldn't judge him. Maka noticed the slight shaking in his shoulders and quietly whistled Crona to catch his attention. Smiling at her friend, she gave him her thumbs up to encourage him. The swordsman noticed this and smiled a little, heaving a sigh to soothe his nerves.

"As you all know, the soul wavelength is something that all living beings have and it's just like a fingerprint" Stein explained while opening one of the textbooks, looking at some pages before giving a couple of turns to the screw on his head "However, in order to be used as a weapon is required a strong and healthy soul wavelength. Even so, being able to use the soul wavelength as a weapon is an ability that not all meisters will achieve"

The students stopped staring at Crona to address their complete attention to Stein. Some began to take notes on their notebooks, while others dedicated to listen. The professor looked around the classroom for a moment before pointing at some students for help.

A couple of young males, approximately 15 years old, came down from the desks to the front of the class. Following them was a young lady wearing a revealing black dress, Maka acknowledged her as a student of the Eclipse classroom. At last, Stein pointed at Blair who pointed at herself with her paw, quite surprised. Smiling, the cat jumped out Maka's arms, sitting next to Crona on the Professor's desk.

"The power to feel a soul wavelength is an exclusive ability of a selected group of students and for those that own a Grigori Soul. Although theoretically anyone can train themselves to feel wavelengths, not everyone will be able to obtain this ability" Stein explained, bending over to whisper something on Blair's ear, making her laugh and nod her head. "Now, I want you all to release your wavelengths, everybody else will keep quiet and try to feel them, start"

Stein ordered, sliding in his chair far from the students, observing attentively with his lenses reflecting the light of the classroom.

The couple of meister and weapon smiled before closing their eyes and channeling off their soul wavelength, initiating a resonance between them. Blair licked her paw for a moment before sighing, sitting on the table quietly allowing her wavelength to show.

For Maka it was very easy. Her emerald eyes could see their wavelengths perfectly and the channeling allowed her to feel what type of soul they had and even percieve some traces of their personalities.

The young meister had a light blue colored soul, she could tell he was a little bit petulant and somewhat of a know-it-all, but he was a good boy with a brave soul. His companion was very similar to him actually... no, in fact they were brothers. Maka smiled, understanding perfectly why the professor had chosen them among the whole class: the objective was to identify which soul wavelength belonged to who. Blair could be identified quite easily since she had a wavelength that was shouting magic, her soul showing a bright pink color.

Maka could remember perfectly the day when they had her and how, based only on her appearance and the light sensation perceived from her soul, they confused her with a witch. Now she could make the differentiation perfectly, although at the start Blair could give the feeling of being a witch, there was something very subtle that distinguised the cat from any witch.

It was there when the young witch in front of the classroom sighed, noticing how there was no escape to her situation. With a pout in her face, the young witch whispered "Soul Protect off". It was there when all the students shivered, feeling like a wave what was unquestionably a witch's soul. The girl had the same purple soul as Blair, but unlike her there was that touch of indisputable evilness that the cat didnt have.

Because witches were chaos, it was their nature and it didnt matter how good the witch could be, that sensation remained there like a fingerprint.

"Very well, enough guys, thanks" Stein indicated, allowing the young to leave. Blair returned Maka's arms with a smile, the young witch looked at Maka and Blair for a moment before returning to her seat where a smsll group was expecting here. Beside the witch were three young boys dressed completely in black and Maka noticed that they were from the Eclipse of the other day. "I want you all to write down in a sheet what you managed to perceive of every one of your companions, it will be your grade of today"

Some teenagers complained with the indication, many already looking around trying to catch what others had written. Every weapon meister should have been able to feel the witch, but Maka could notice the trap in Stein's question. What the professor really wanted was them to differentiate between Blair and that witch. It was something that every meister should be capable to do even if they didnt have the ability to see or feel wavelengths.

"The expulsion of your soul wavelength is only the initial step to be able to use it as a weapon. As you know for the majority the wavelength remains invisible, which is why trying to explain what happens step by step would be kind of useless. For that task we have Crona" Stein said while he slapped the swordsman's back, making him jump in surprise.

The pink-haired meister looked around while turning slightly pale, walking slowly towards the center of the classroom, his gaze focused on the floor. He took several deep breaths before resolving to look up and confront the students.

"As you already know, Crona is the meister of the demonsword Ragnarok. Ragnarok?" The professor called to the little demon who got out of Crona's back with a cry of war, making the closest students to jump on their seats. Maka couldn't help but smile, at least someone was enjoying all that attention.

However, the blonde noticed something. Suddenly all the students looked interested, staring at the demonsword attentively.

"Ragnarok, being the weapon, has the ability to channel off Crona's soul wavelength and amplify it to use it like extra damage between each sword blow. Without this amplification, the blow of the sword would do as much damage as an ordinary human-made weapon, this is an ability that all the weapons possess" The professor explained, observing how Ragnarok was doing press-ups on top of Crona's head as if he were a bodybuilder. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath before continuing "However, what really concerns us here is Crona's black blood ability to materialize his own wavelength, which is capable to manipulate at will thanks to Ragnarok. With this ability we will be able to see what in other circumstances would be invisible for our eyes. Crona, please begin"

The swordsman glanced a look to Stein for a moment, his black eyes staring at him fixedly as if he were asking something with his eyes. Stein stared upon Crona before nodding in what seemed to be a silent dialog between them. With a sigh, Crona closed his eyes, trying to calm down.

"Let's hit this shit!" Ragnarok roared before dissolving in thin air, becoming a black cloud. Crona shoved his hand into that floating liquid, which reacted to his touch becoming a sword.

Maka frowned, tilting her head slightly while observing the swordsman holding his right arm with an iron grip, brandishing the sword. Maybe it was her imagination, but Ragnarok seemed a lot bigger. She remembered Ragnarok had almost the same length as Crona's arm, pretty much like a fencing sword. Now the little demon seemed more like a huge broadsword, and holy crap the little bastard was wide!

Ragnarok was perhaps bigger than the first time she met him.

Laying Ragnarok's edge down on the floor, Crona held the long hilt with both hands against his chest, heaving a sigh. "Calm down" he remembered to himself, repeating the same thing over and over in his head. It was OK, Stein was there watching him, he had to calm down, he had to forget everything and concentrate on the task.

Crona started to release his soul wavelength, letting it out of its confinement, surrounding him and Ragnarok. It was the same task that any other meister could do without any problem, something that they learned to do in the Academy, or at home as it was his case. His wavelength was big and now exposed to everyone.

Maka opened her eyes widely, staring intently at Crona. There was it, his wavelength, a soul with the pink color of witches, a magical soul thanks to his mother. Surrounding... no, protecting his soul was Ragnarok's white strips, eternally fused to his meister. Crona's soul included a couple of wings like the ones of her grigori soul, but they were black and sharp like the ones of a bat... or a demon.

Her grigori soul suddenly got upset, feeling it almost fluttering in search of that dark soul that refused to answer her calls. They had been so close Crona and her, so close that their wavelengths were always in harmony, so close that they could know how the other felt by just holding hands or looking at their eyes... like the day of her wedding. That day, when they danced together at the rhythm of Soul's piano, she had felt in Crona a deep sadness combined with joy. While dancing their souls joined up in what resulted to be their last resonance and in spite of being happy, Maka remembers perfectly how much she had wanted to throw herself in his arms and just cry.

It would be very easy to simply imitate Crona's wavelength and force herself into his soul. Crona wouldn't almost feel it, she had made it before, she only needed to concentrate. Now that she could faintly feel his soul she could get inside of him and find out what he was hiding from her.

Perhaps that way she could know why he stopped sending letters to her. Perhaps that way she could know why Crona denied her entrance to his soul, something that has never happened before. Perhaps that way she could recover her friend.

"Very good Crona, that's a good wavelength, starts please" Stein ordered, staring at his former student while he waited.

Crona sighed, picking Ragnarok up from the floor to make a light cut in his wrist, allowing his blood to run free to the floor. Some students gasped, not expecting to see that man cutting his veins in front of them.

"Bloody Defense" Crona ordered, making the puddle of blood under his feet to bubble for an instant before becoming a cage around him. The students in the classroom made an exclamation, some bending over on their desks to have a better look.

"A soul wavelength, when manipulated, can be used for attack and for defense. The capacity to expel it in shockwaves is usually the most common and simple way of using it. The meister Black Star was the last graduate in this school with that ability, Lord Death the Kid has also this ability thanks to his weapons which manipulate his wavelength to help him expel it as bullets. Crona has this ability thanks to his black blood and the ability of his partner Ragnarok to manipulate it, thanks Crona "

The swordsman agreed blurting a sigh, letting the cage around him to liquify again as black blood below his feet.

"Show us an attack now" the professor ordered while he got up of his seat. Frowning, he started gathering his soul wavelength in the palm of his hand. The student could see nothing at all in his hand until the scientist hit the floor with it. Right in the spot where he had punched the floor a little transparent snowman, not bigger than the professor, appeared. With complete confidence, Stein rested behind the doll, being this the only protective barrier between him and Crona.

Crona observed the doll for an instant, calculating the distance between him and the dummy made with Stein's soul. Bending over, the swordsman laid his hand on the puddle of blood below his feet, making it react. Right in front of the student's gaze, the liquid black blood solidified and became a lance.

"Bloody Lance!" Crona shouted, throwing his hardened blood with mighty strength, straight towards Stein.

The students exclaimed, some even closing their eyes waiting to see the professor pierced through by that attack. When some childish whines were heard, the pupils opened their eyes just to see Stein's snowman crying pierced by the black lance which didn't reach the scientist. Complaining, the snowman faded away making Crona's hardened blood to fall on the floor, turning into a black puddle again.

"Without the use of a weapon, Crona was able to launch an attack against me, and without a weapon I was able to defend myself. The manipulation of the soul's wavelength as an independent weapon is an ability that can save your life and the life of others in battle. Thank you, Crona"

The pupils nodded, some jotting down some notes in their notebooks. The swordsman sighed, nodding to Stein before bending over again to rest his hand on the floor. The black blood came alive once more to enter his body and healing the injury in his wrist.

It was there when he felt it. It was warm, comforting, a strange sensation. It was like as if he had a second-degree burn in his entire torso and somebody just covered him with ointment. The air around him filled with a familiar aroma, a subtle scent that could only be described as the sun: It was warm, filled him with peace, it put him at ease…

It was Maka's soul.

Opening his eyes widely, Crona clenched his fists and turned on his heels, his blue eyes looking at the blonde meister who responded with the same impressed look, her green eyes filling up with what seemed to be pain. Crona had just practically pushed her out of him.

Crona had never denied her entrance to his soul, until now.

"Ugh… s-sorry… Professor, excuse me!" Crona stuttered, running rapidly out of the classroom, getting several inquisitive looks from the students. Stein simply nodded to him, frowning while he observed Crona flee.

Maka stayed in her chair, her green full eyes of pain while looking at her desk. Crona had pushed her off his soul, he had rejected her.

For a moment, while Crona was absent-minded, she had managed to match his soul wavelength, trying to get into resonance with him. For a second she almost had achieved it, she had even gotten to feel his warmth, to perceive the light scent of sea water. She had felt what could only be described as fresh water running down her thirsty throat.

She had felt happiness and peace, only for Crona to snatch it away from her, to shove her off him.

Maka clenched her fists tightly under the worried but understanding stare of Blair.

* * *

Crona ran out of class without stopping neither looking back until he got to the only place in Death City that still managed to calm him. He ran up the academy stairs holding his breath, running as fast as his long legs allowed him to. Soon enough he reached that place, a safe place that always had given him privacy and peace.

It was one of the many balconies of Shibusen that was facing the entire city. It was a small and solitary place where there wasn't a single soul except his own, a balcony where he used to go some afternoons to observe the sunset. It was what at some point Maka and Crona used to call "their balcony".

Now it was only his.

Breathing agitatedly, Crona took seat in the border of the balcony, his now black eyes watching the landscape.

"What the hell was that!" Ragnarok roared while bursting out of Crona's back, landing on his head "Trying pry into your soul without your permission! And she says that I am rude!"

"Ragnarok, please" Crona whispered, his voice blurting out an aftertaste of pain "I want to be alone"

The demonsword looked at his companion for a moment, staring at him fixedly. Shortly afterwards and without saying another word, Ragnarok retreated back inside his companion.

Crona couldn't allow it; he couldn't allow his feelings for Maka to resurface. His feelings had overwhelmed him when she left, almost making him lose his mind… he couldn't allow it to happen again. For a couple of years Crona fought back the madness that had provoked Maka's departure, a madness that was different from the one that Medusa had sown inside of him.

No, the madness Crona was victim of was much worse. It was not a madness caused by self-hatred or the terror towards other people, it was not either for the overwhelming solitude… his madness was of love. The madness of unrequited love, the madness of longing, madness for the loss of somebody who had meant the whole world to him.

It was a madness that almost took his life.

He couldn't, he shouldn't let Maka to go back in. He couldn't allow himself that luxury, that blessing, because she would leave soon, she would leave him again. Allowing himself to feel again for her would only mean at the end to fall again into madness. Yet… Maka had tried to get into his soul, for an instant he felt her warmth and now his soul was crying for her. He needed her as much as the most powerful and addictive drug in the world.

And Crona knew a lot of that already.

His hands started shaking, his entire body was shaking and the swordsman had to hug himself to regain some control. He wanted to imagine that his arms around his body were those of the blonde, he wanted to imagine that she was at his side whispering words of comfort, words of love. But he couldn't, he shouldn't be thinking those things, he wasn't just lying to himself but also hurting himself. He didn't want to go over all that hell again, he didn't want to fool himself with the illusion of being accepted by her, he didn't want to be hopeless and lovesick again.

Because Maka was married, Maka loved Soul and would never leave him for such a wimp like him. Meena had said it herself once, nobody else would accept him; nobody else would want to be with him.

He refused to cry, he hated to cry like if he were a baby. He was 26 years old already, he was already a man, he couldn't cry as if he were five years old. His face turned red, his fingers almost buried themselves in his arms. Between the void of loneliness and sadness inside of him and his self-hatred, he could only try to keep the remaining pieces of his long lost dignity together and hold his tears.

Suddenly, Crona was almost thrown of the balcony by a pair of arms around his torso. Losing balance for an instant, the swordsman stopped hugging himself to move his arms back and forth in an attempt of holding his balance and not falling to the abyss. The arms that had just surrounded him pulled him to the floor, preventing his fall over the edge but throwing him on the balcony's floor.

Before Crona could articulate any word, a thin young girl sat on his hips. She was dressing a very small green-colored linen skirt with black lines and a tank top of same color that revealed her slender pale stomach. In her back was what seemed to be a dark green mantle met and on top of her head was a curious green hat with the face of a chameleon.

The brunette bent over the pink-haired man almost lying down against him, her breasts fully against the swordsman's chest.

"Cronaaa" The girl sang softly, her gloved hands imprisoning the scared man by his shoulders.

"Angela!" Crona exclaimed surprised, moaning a little from the stinging pain in his rear due to the harsh fall on the floor. The young witch smiled, one of her hands rising to toy with one of the long pink-colored hair locks of the young man.

"Uhh I just loooove when you say my name stuttering" The witch smiled lasciviously, leaning on the swordsman fully, making him blush a deep red.

"W-What b-brings you h-here?" Crona asked, blushing even more when he was unable to avoid his own stuttering.

"Oh nothing! There I was focused on my duties when I felt deep inside that you needed me…"

"You were following me" Crona said frowning lightly, making a pout.

"MEI? Crona! How you can think that about me!? I was only doing my duties! Can't you trust on my feminine intuition?" Angela whimpered making a pout as well, but when she saw that Crona wasn't swallowing her history she only sighed "Alright, alright! I was stalking you! But I have missed you so muuuuch!"

And just after her words she began to rub her cheek against the swordsman's, making his face almost catch on fire.

"Y-you skipped y-yesterday's session" Crona stuttered trying to distract her while trying to get rid of her discreetly. Holding Angela's arms, the swordsman started pushing her away from him bit by bit.

"I'm sorry Professor! I was on a mission!" Angela laughed, allowing Crona to separate her from him, seating comfortably on the swordsman's hips fully. Crona noticed immediately his mistake. "Professor, I don't think that your hands should be there"

Crona was at the brink of a panic attack, fidgeting below the teenage witch, unable to think straight already. Shaking, the swordsman tried to remove his hands from Angela's arms, but the witch used her magic forcing Crona's hands to hold her by her waist, her smile turning wicked.

"There! Now they are in the right place!" The young witch cheered, using her magic to prevent Crona from pulling off his hands from her. The poor pink-haired male could only squeak in horror while his eyes slipped to the place he was touching. His face was on fire and he was a couple of seconds away from a blackout.

Crona panted due to the lack of air in his lungs, the impression was just too big for him to notice that he wasn't breathing properly. His single pant made the witch to smile even more.

Just before the swordsman lost consciousness, Ragnarok got out of his chest to push Angela away from him. Not expecting the aggression, the brunette fell off her prey.

"HEEEEELP! CRONA IS BEING RAPEEEED!" Ragnarok roared at the top of his lungs "GET AWAY FROM HIM! YOU, YOU, SEXUAL PREDATOR!"

"Ragnarok! Silence!" Crona shrieked covering his companion's with his hands, trying to prevent him from shouting.

"AHA! Pervert! You like being molested! SURELY IS THAT!" Ragnarok shouted while fighting against Crona's hands "I will not be silenced! You are a sick fuck!"

"Ragnarok please!" Crona whimpered, starting to become desperate for all of the scandal his weapon was causing.

"Crona I don't mind, I want everyone to know that you are mine!" Angela laughed before getting close to the swordsman again with that same wicked grin. "And I always get what I want…"

Before she could place herself again on top of Crona, Blair appeared suddenly on the swordsman's chest hissing in her cat form.

"Don't make me use my magic, brat" Blair hissed while glaring at the brunette with her amber eyes.

"Angela!" A voice called her with an authoritative tone, making the young witch to step back from Crona completely, getting up the floor like a spring. Before Crona could get up, Kim appeared accompanied by Maka.

Great, just what Crona didn't want.

"Are you molesting Crona again?" Kim scolded the chameleon witch who smiled as innocently as she could.

"Of course not, Crona and I were just having an intimate moment of passion when Ragnarok got one of his jealousy fits and started shouting" The young witch explained while holding a serious expression. Crona dropped his mouth almost to the floor, quickly starting to shake his head denying everything vehemently.

"I-I-Is N-Not true! I-I w-would n-never!" The swordsman stuttered, the blush finally disappearing from his face, leaving him ghostly pale.

"Calm down Crona, of course I don't believe her" Kim calmed him, staring back at Angela severely "Angela, what would Mifune say if he saw you like this?"

At the mention of the swordsman, Angela finally took a serious pose and bowed her face, staring at her own feet.

"Now apologize to Crona" The pink-haired girl ordered with her hands in her hips, looking at the other witch sternly.

The brunette witch sighed before helping Crona to get up of the floor, Blair jumping off his chest to run and climb on Kim's shoulder.

"Do you forgive me?" Angela almost implored, looking at the tall male fixedly with her giant red eyes. Unable to refuse, Crona simply nodded with his head. The witch soon jumped into his arms giving him a strong hug not caring that Ragnarok was in the middle.

Maka only could observe next to Kim, seeing as Crona doubted for an instant before dropping a little smile and surrounding Angela with his arms. Her emerald eyes narrowed and a frown appeared vaguely in her face. Crona refused to embrace her, but he didn't have problems embracing that little plague. Something in her stomach started to stir while she kept seeing that scene, making her feeling like puking.

"Enough! Now get the fuck away from my meister!" Ragnarok vociferated, pushing Angela again who wasn't affected by the little demon at all.

"Farewell, my Dark Knight!" Angela said good-bye blowing a kiss on the air for Crona before running inside the building. Crona blushed lightly, but in his dark eyes was still a bit of panic.

It was there when Maka almost exploded.

"Just what the heck was that?" The blonde asked with anger in her face, seeing how Ragnarok started giving a couple of slaps on Crona's cheeks to make him recover.

"Angela… Since Crona started helping me with the Eclipse class, she seems to have developed a crush on him" Kim explained shaking her head, disguising an amused smile "I think she's projecting her Electra complex on him, Crona reminds her to Mifune a lot"

"And we used to babysit her too, don't you remember that?" Ragnarok growled while getting inside his companion only to go out for his back, sitting comfortably on his head.

Maka had almost forgot about that too. Several times after the fight with the Kishin, Crona used to offer as a volunteer to take care of Angela when nobody else could do it. It wasn't regular and although Crona didn't have any idea of how to baby-sit, he had managed to please a little bossy and spoiled witch child. The little witch had liked the swordsman right from the start, certainly because of the enormous resemblance between him and Mifune, at least in what kindness and patience referred.

But to think that that little witch 10 years younger than Crona was after him… Maka couldn't do anything but sigh, shaking her head. At the end, she kind of preferred a thousand times more that spoiled witch than Meena.

"We were looking for you, Crona" Kim scolded him, calling Crona and Ragnarok's attention who stopped slapping his meister. Both stopped their fight to look at Kim.

"F-For what?" The swordsman asked while holding his weapon's fists over his head.

"Kid called and requested me to look for you and tell you about the welcome party of Maka, remember the party?" The pink-haired witch asked while leaning closer to him with her hands on her hip. Crona smiled nervously, turning over to see Maka behind her friend.

"O-of course I r-remember" Although he wanted, he couldn't forget it. Maka was with him… temporarily.

"Good! Because the party will be today at six in Gallow's Mannor, so I expect you both there in time" Kim warned them, smiling before getting back inside into the academy with Blair sitting on her shoulder, leaving both meisters alone in the balcony.

The swordsman looked at Maka deeply grieved, trying to fix his clothing as discreetly as he could, an act that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde. With a smile Maka got closer to Crona, stepping right in front of him and lifting her hands to help him fix his shirt neck.

"Soul would be proud of you, Crona, the girls chase you" Maka joked with a smile, which the alluded responded nervously. Once sge finished fixing his clothes, Maka took his hand to guide him towards the border of the balcony.

"God dammit! As soon as I take a bitch off you another appears! I quit!" Ragnarok roared with frustration, retreating inside his companion.

With a sigh, both meisters sat on the border of the balcony, looking at Death City's landscape in front of them like in the old times, side by side. Crona couldn't help noticing how Maka hadn't released his hand, holding it between hers firmly. His heart started racing, he wanted to separate from her… he should separate from her, but his will was weak and his heart stronger than his reason. He could only hold Maka's hand tightly between his own, sighing defeated.

There had been five years since the last time he held hands with Maka, he wanted to do it while he could, while she was in Death City... with him. He was weak and coward, in spite of knowing that at the end he would end up getting hurt, he only wanted to have those moments of happiness.

Maka turned over to see her friend, her emerald eyes staring at him. She was still feeling terribly grieved by Crona's rejection during the class, but at the end could she really stay upset with him? The answer was no, it was impossible for Maka to stay angry with Crona, besides what she had made had been really rude. She couldn't just force herself into his soul; it would be as much as doing what Angela did with him moments ago.

At least now, during those moments, Crona didn't push her away. She could feel his warmth and the strength of his hand… Crona didn't reject her. Maka tightened her grasp on his hand, as if joining their hands would repair the broken bond between them.

"Crona…" Maka called him, still holding his hand. The thin man turned over to see her with his deep black eyes. "There is plenty of time before the party… Would you like to join me to buy that mattress for my room?"

The swordsman's eyes lit up all of the sudden, his face completely surprised by Maka's words. At the end he could do nothing but smile, nodding. Maka smiled at him, closing the distance between them to sit right at his side.

There, being so close to him, the blonde surrounded him with her arms, resting her head in his shoulder. She managed to feel how the pink-haired male turned stiff as a board, but the longer Maka stood there holding him, the more Crona seemed to calm down and relax. The blonde meister didn't let him go until she felt him completely relaxed in her hug.

He was not rejecting her now, he wasn't pushing her away… why? Why Crona would allow this contact but rejected her soul? Why would he push her away? She had no idea what to think… but she was feeling unwanted, unwanted by him… that never had happened before. She wanted to ask, she wanted to know… but she feared the answer. Instead, she would try to mend the broken bond between them… then maybe Crona would tell her by himself.

"… can I get a hug?" Maka whispered in his shoulder, her face down so he couldn't see her… she didn't want him to see her fear.

Crona couldn't help it. He tried from the start not to fall in his own desires, not to enjoy Maka's proximity. At the end he knew he would end up breaking, he would end enjoying the blonde's arms around him. But hearing Maka asking him for a hug…

Slowly, he raised his arms and surrounded the blonde into a hug. His arms were strong despite being so slim and Maka could tell he was all bones and muscles. She could still feel his ribs and his stomach was flat and soft like the one of a girl, but his chest was hard as concrete just like his arms. She leaned on him, feeling safe now, safe and protected with those strong arms around her… because Crona didn't reject her.

The hands of the swordsman held on Maka, at first softly, but the longer they stood together the more his hands held on her. At the end he was almost clinging on the blonde, not letting her go. At the end he even dared to rest his cheek on top of her head which rested on his shoulder.

He knew that he shouldn't be doing that, that he would end digging his own grave, but at the end Crona only wanted to lie to himself and imagine that Maka would stay with him. At least, while it lasted, Crona could imagine that his life was not an empty senseless abyss. As long as Maka were there, Crona wanted to imagine that she was his, that he had her and that it was just the two of them. He wanted to imagine that Meena didn't exist in his life and that Soul was only an old memory.

Although at the end Maka's departure would end up killing him, while she was there he wanted to fool himself and to enjoy her closeness, her scent, her warmth. He wanted to imagine that those five years of loneliness and her wedding had never happened, he wanted to imagine that everything had just been a nightmare.

He wanted to imagine that he finally had died and he didn't notice, that he had been forgiven for his sins. He wanted to imagine that Maka's arrival was the version of his paradise, that he was dead and now an illusion of Maka would stay with him forever.

At the end, Crona couldn't help it.

* * *

**AkireRosales**: IM SO LAAATE! Im sorry! This was a BIG ASS chapter, I hope the length made up for the waiting? I triple checked this one for any spelling or grammar mistake also D: I really hope you enjoyed the reading!

We are getting there xD many already figured out the OCs rol in this story. Keep reading and reviewing! I love you all for your beautiful reviews and your support! You are so kind and patient with me!

Oh one more thing! Yes, Angela is included in this fanfic xD no one includes her! I actually like the little fiend! So... about Mifune, would you like the swordsman to be alive like in the anime or dead like in the manga? This is important! So write your opinion in your review pls!

Cya next chapter!


	5. Secrets

**Akire Rosales: **Thank you all for your patience! Enjoy the reading!

* * *

**Whispers**

**Chapter 5**

**Secrets**

Crona had gone to that enormous store only a few times. In fact, he remembered those times very well and he could count them with the fingers of one hand. The first time was when Liz and Patty helped him making his first wardrobe, the second time was when he joined Soul and the others to choose a smocking for Soul's wedding, the third time was when he accompanied Maka to choose her wedding dress, the fourth time was with Liz and Patty again, four years ago.

That was his fifth time going to the huge subsidiary and he couldn't help but be impressed by it. It was enormous, filled with different stores that sold a huge variety of things from camping stuff to kitchens and gala clothing. All of Death City's inhabitants used to go shop there, all of them except Crona of course. He preferred smaller and more reserved stores where there weren't many people.

But they wouldn't find in those stores what Maka and he were looking for.

"It has been a long time since I came here" Maka smiled while looking around, remembering nostalgically all those stores where she used to snoop along with the Thompson sisters and Tsubaki. "I hope the stores haven't changed of place"

"N-no uhm… they all are in t-the same place I t-think..." Crona murmurs while keeping on holding Maka's hand tightly against his. That enormous place always managed to make him nervous.

"Why did you take so long talking to Kid?" The blonde asked while she secured the hand of the swordsman against hers. They had been holding hands since they got out of Shibusen and Maka couldn't be happier knowing that Crona didn't reject her.

"Uh... Nothing really, just talking" the pink-haired meister said smiling nervously, feeling how his hands began to sweat. Maka frowned while staring at him, walking in front of Crona to suddenly stop.

Leaning closer to him, Maka continued looking at him fixedly, making the poor swordsman terribly nervous. His blue eyes started wandering around to avoid contact with hers and his lips began to tremble.

"Crona... if you worked as a Professional Liar, you would starve to death" The blonde meister emphasized making the swordsman to lower down his gaze, quite ashamed of being caught "I know that you hate to lie, if you don't want to tell me just say it so"

"I-I'm s-sorry" Crona apologized, releasing Maka's hand to hold his own arm nervously, cleaning the sweat in his hand in the process "I a-asked Kid an advance of my monthly salary"

"..." Maka didn't know how to think about that. First of all it was impossible that Shibusen gave salaries in advance, that was against the rules. Secondly, the fact that Crona needed money only meant one thing "Crona... do you have financial problems?"

"n-no! No no, Agh! Is not like that!" Crona panted blushing, raising his voice making more than one person turn over to see them. Feeling the stares on them, the swordsman began to shake slightly "Is just that... Meena handles my money to make sure that... Uh... I don't run out of it, but if I ask her for money then she would ask me why I need it and...

Maka interrupted him resting her forefinger in Crona's lips, hushing him completely. Had she heard right? Had she heard that that despicable woman managed his money? All of his savings? The payment of his hard work?

"Crona..." Maka sighed, closing her eyes while holding her own forehead with her free hand. She couldn't believe it, just... Crona simply permitted an ordinary girl to have access to the whole fruit of his work. The amount of ideas that started to grow in the head of the blonde, starting with the idea of hiring a professional assassin, made the girl shake her head several times.

"D-did I make something wrong?" The pink-haired meister asked, lifting his hand to take Maka's finger away from his lips, breathing deeply in order to make his violent blush disappear.

Ah yes, Crona had probably messed up pretty badly by letting that girl have free access to everything he owned. Maka couldn't simply stand the idea that he was at the mercy of another woman, just like before. But at the end, could she really tell him that he was wrong? Maka managed all of Soul's income along with her own, and if Crona had a romantic relationship with that girl... It was pretty much the same.

For some reason remembering that that hateful woman and the sweet Crona were together made her feel sick. Maka had always been extremely possessive with the swordsman, always watching after him, always procuring his well-being. In their adolescence she had felt like his guardian, his protector, his best friend and confidant. Now five years later, in complete adult age, Maka had realized that she wasn't all that anymore. She was no longer his guardian, that role belonged now to somebody else, somebody who Maka wouldn't trust even a pencil.

That idea, for some reason, made her feel like throwing up.

"I am going to pay the mattress, Crona, we will buy an inflatable one" Maka said with a sigh, moving her hand away from the swordsman and resuming the walk.

"Inflatable?" Crona asked frowning, walking after the blonde closely "those mattresses even exist? B-but how do you fill them with air? A-And what if while you are asleep it explodes as a balloon!? What if you die!? G-GAH! Maka! Don't buy one of those! "

Maka couldn't keep her frown for too long, Crona's comment had been too much for her. Stopping the walk, Maka began to laugh, holding her stomach hard. Meanwhile Crona kept on looking at her quite seriously and authentically scared.

"D-don't laugh M-Maka! Have you ever listened to a balloon e-explode? And what if it's too big and then it explodes!? You could fly off!" Crona went on with real worry on his face, gesturing a giant explosion with his arms.

It was simply impossible to be upset at Crona.

"You big dummy, They are really safe! You blow them with a pump and-"

"A pump!?" Crona almost shouted in the middle of the store, his face now showing real panic "And what if you pump it too much and it explodes!? I don't want you to die Maka! N-no! forget about the mattress, you will sleep in my b-bed, I can sleep in the living room "

Maka began to laugh out loud. She shouldn't laugh, Crona seemed really terrified, but what he was saying was totally hilarious. The blonde meister turned over towards Crona to embrace him tightly, holding on him while trying to control herself. The contact made the swordsman to stop from panicking, calming him bit by bit. For Maka's delight, it was not long before she felt his arms around her body, making her smile grow wider.

"You'll understand when we see them" Maka tried to explain to him while nuzzling his chest, trying to sooth him, looking up to lock her emerald eyes with his deep dark blue ones.

"N-no Maka, w-we will buy a normal mattress"

"Crona, you have any idea of how much costs a new mattress? Besides, I can't take it to Germany" Maka reminded him without pulling out of the embrace. Thanks to being so close to him, she noticed that sudden change in Crona's eyes, a feeling that lasted just a second before vanishing. The swordsman sighed, taking Maka from her shoulders before gently pushing her off him.

Going through the inside pockets of his gabardine, Crona took out a white envelope sealed with a number scribbled in one of its faces.

"Would it be enough with this?" The swordsman asked innocently, while handling the envelope to Maka. The blonde looked at it for a moment before taking it in her hands, turning it over to read the quantity scribbled on it.

"...!" Maka's face contorted in surprise. Opening Crona's gabardine, she took the envelope and forcefully shoved it back into one of his inner pockets "C-Crona! Don't take out your payment like that! Much less with that amount, you could lose it!"

"Oh, sorry" The swordsman excused himself with a blush, fixing his clothes that had been opened by Maka. "B-but then... is it enough?"

"Are you crazy? I don't understand why you have your apartment so empty if you get paid so well" Maka scolded him, shaking her head before taking his hand again. At least it seemed that Kid worried about him, giving him a payment for his services. Although, on second thought certainly the envelope included Crona and Ragnarok's salary. In that case, the amount made a lot of sense. It was about as much as what Soul and she earned together. Though... Soul was a Death Scythe.

It seemed that Kid had a favorite in Death City.

"Even so..." Maka called his attention "it doesn't seem correct to me that you spend your money in something that I will not use for too long"

Crona frowned, looking down lightly. He wanted her to stop saying that, Crona wanted Maka to stop reminding him what he was trying to forget. He wanted to fool himself, he wanted to think that she would stay with him. Maka just wouldn't allow him that much.

After walking in silence for a couple of minutes, Crona suddenly froze in place, holding Maka back thanks to their entwined hands. The blonde turned over to see what made the swordsman stop, watching him with an eyebrow raised, tilting her head lightly. The pink-haired meister had been very quiet until now, but when Maka looked at his face she noticed a spark in his eyes.

"Now that I think about it..." Crona murmured, releasing Maka's hand to clutch at his own arm. Tilting her head further, the blonde noticed immediately that the swordsman was trying to express one of his ideas. She could always identify when that happened, because Crona was so unaccustomed to express his ideas and emotions that his nervousness always gave him away.

"What is it?" Maka asked patiently, stopping in front of him. She liked to see when Crona expressed what was inside of his shy head.

"Uh... Well... Ahm I-I have used this old mattress f-for a long time" Crona tried to explain, making Maka to notice something different in his voice... Was that a tone of mischief? "And... and perhaps I should change it... besides I heard somewhere that y-you can't use them for m-more than 10 years"

Oh little rascal, Maka couldn't give credit to what she was listening to.

"S-so... I'm buying a new mattress... for me, b-but you can use it while you are here, h-how does that sound?"

Well, whoever dared to say that Crona didn't have his witty side, they didn't know him at all.

"I just can't beat you, can I?" Maka laughed, getting close to him again to surround his waist with her arms, resting her chin on his chest. "Alright, you win"

Crona couldn't help but smile, surrounding Maka with his arms in a tight hug.

"m-my logic is flawless" Crona smiled, puffing his chest almost proudly, happy to win the discussion.

"Well well! Somebody here starts to get sassy, don't let your guard down mister, I will get you back soon enough! " Maka reprimanded him, poking his stomach with her forefinger making the pink-haired man to squeak.

"G-Gah Maka! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to let my sassy out!" Crona tried to apologize, looking at Maka as if the blonde really were going to punish him.

"I can't promise anything Crona Makenshi" Maka threatened, giving him her best wicked grin "when you least expect it..."

And just after her words, Maka let out her best interpretation of an evil laughter.

"Oh, you are so very fucked!" Ragnarok laughed inside of Crona, making a cold sweat travel down the swordsman's spine. Before he could stutter another apology, Maka took him firmly by his hand and guided him to the bedroom's section of the giant store.

They barely had been ten minutes in the store and Crona already felt his head stinging with a light migraine. The amount of beds and different mattresses was overwhelming, why couldn't there be a simple mattress for his simple life? He didn't require a specific kind or any with memory foam. The very idea of having a mattress with memory was daunting. What if he had a nightmare and the mattress managed to remember it? What if the mattress makes him remember the same nightmare time after time? He didn't want an evil mattress!

While Maka was taking a walk from here to there looking at characteristics and prices, Crona ended up sitting on a little space that was between two sample mattresses, holding his knees against his chest. Ragnarok got out of Crona's back to rest on top of his head.

"And now what the hell is wrong?" The little demon growled looking down at his meister .

"I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to come here" Crona whispered with the face hidden on his knees, a habit that had never abandoned him. He used to do that since he was 2 years old, he used to do that every lonely night in the dungeons of Shibusen and he was sure that he would keep doing it when he were a weak old man.

"Ah, you were thinking alright, but not with this head" Ragnarok laughed while giving a strong noogie on Crona's skull. The swordsman sighed with a growl of pain but didn't push away his companion "Ey, fine by me! It was about time for you to get rid of that old excuse of a bed"

But Crona stood silently in his position, motionless and unwilling to stop the aggression of the demon sword. What was he thinking? Yes, his feelings related to what he WANTED to do were very clear for him: he wanted Maka to stay, he wanted to please her and to give her everything he could. However, a part of him knew perfectly what he SHOULD do, and that was telling Maka to stay at Kid's mannor.

But Crona was weak, the orders of his brain were only whispers compared to the screams of his heart. How bad could it be? Enjoying the time with Maka at his side, enjoying her smile, the warmth of her body, feeling her beautiful figure against his chest and breathing her scent. Crona only wanted to forget his reality, even if it was for a very short time, just to fill himself with a fake sense of happiness.

The swordsman was very good at fooling himself, it was an ability that he had mastered over the years. When he was three years old he had pretended that his mother's indifference was her way of showing him affection. At the age of five he had pretended that her tortuous punishments were her way of teaching and educate him like any mother would do. At the age of nine he had pretended that following her orders blindly would make him worthy of her love. By the time he was fifteen years old he had convinced himself that everything Medusa did is normal, that it was her way of loving him even though at the bottom of his heart he knew that it wasn't true. The next mistake was when he were 19 years old.

He tried to pretend that Maka someday would take notice of him. Just like everything else, that bubble had exploded on his face at the end. He perfectly knew what could be the consequences of fooling himself about that, he knew very well that somebody so unstable as him didn't need false hopes. However, for somebody as solitary and empty as him, filling himself with hope, although it was false, was the only way to keep on living.

Even if at the end the illusion would shatter in a thousand pieces, even if at the end the disappointment would end up killing him, he wanted to hold on it.

Ragnarok had stopped his punches on Crona's head to observe him fixedly. The connection that existed between them was strange, to say the least. They were two souls, two different personalities and two separated minds sharing a single body. In order to live together in harmony, Ragnarok and Crona had kept a perpetual resonance between their souls, something that they had done since they got merged together. Such a strong resonance like theirs sometimes allowed them to share thoughts, almost as if they could read each other's minds. The demon sword knew what Crona was thinking and it wasn't at all of his liking.

For such a strong and temperamental personality like the one of the demon sword, having to listen the weak and distressful thoughts of his companion was an authentic torture. One would believe that after 20 years sharing the same body, he should be accustomed already. But, really... Would it be possible for anyone to get used to see and listen to their companion suffering without being able to help him? The feeling of impotence due to that situation pissed off Ragnarok to no end.

And everything was because of Maka.

In what Ragnarok respected, Maka had ruined Crona. Before her, Crona was only a body, a hollow soul that obeyed orders and a simple, numbed mind. The swordsman's thoughts were, even though melancholic and filled with unhappiness, so repetitive that over the years Ragnarok stopped hearing them. As Crona sank deeper and deeper into madness, his mind silenced more and more.

Even though Crona was unhappy, he was also ignorant of his own unhappiness. If you have never been happy, you cannot be unhappy either. Crona didn't know that he was miserable because he had never met happiness. The swordsman was ok with his situation and the complaints were few.

After Maka, after her stupid hug and after she had almost raped Crona's soul, his companion knew happiness for the first time. Crona hadn't been aware of the emptiness inside his heart until she arrived to his life.

And Ragnarok knew for the first time that kind of happiness as well. When you share a body, when you are your own host's blood, it is impossible not to share feelings and sensations. Happiness, the liberation of those chemists in the blood not only affected Crona, but Ragnarok too. However, Ragnarok had gone through a lot next with the swordsman to know that happiness was temporary, that you should enjoy it while it lasts and not miss it when it's gone. It was a lot like food: Devour it while you can, because it won't last forever.

Crona hadn't learned that. The swordsman wanted and longed for an eternal happiness, he wanted to always feel the way only Maka made him feel: Darling, important, appreciated. His companion would never learn his lesson, he would never accept that his happiness next to the blonde was impossible. Ragnarok, on the other hand, knew the outcome of the history perfectly: Maka would leave and Crona would be left alone and shattered again.

And while he was attached to the pink-haired man's back, the demon sword wasn't going to allow that.

"Crona?" Maka asked, going back on her steps looking around for the sword meister. It didn't take long for her to notice Ragnarok's figure looking at something that was hidden between a couple of beds.

The blonde's voice made the swordsman to squeak in surprise, immediately revealing his position. Before he could even expect it, Maka jumped over one of the beds that were at his side, smiling at him while supporting her own weight with her elbows on the mattress.

"Buying a mattress requires you to try them, Crona, don't sit in here waiting for me to do everything!" Maka scolded him with a pout in her lips, her emerald eyes looking at Crona fixedly.

"G-gah, I-I n-never have chosen a bed b-before... I- I don't know what s-should I look for" The pink-haired meister whispered blushing deeply, his black eyes looking everywhere except Maka's face. Ragnarok gave forth a growl before pulling one of Crona's ears. "R-Ragnarok! It hurts!"

"GOOD! You are sitting here like a retard!" The demon sword roared, succeeding at making the swordsman to stop focusing on the blonde, making his blush disappear.

"Ragnarok" Maka growled while looking at the little pest with murderous eyes, slowly bringing her enormous book forth.

"You shut up! I do whatever I want with my meister! You have no rights on him!"

Crona became tense suddenly, stopping to whimper for the mistreatment in his ears to look at his companion with his icy blue eyes. He could feel it, he could feel fury slowly taking over his weapon. He had to control Ragnarok quickly before it was too late.

"R-ragnarok shut it!, I-I'm sorry Maka, he didn't mean to-"

"No Crona, don't defend him, he is a damn bully! I am your friend and I have the right to worry about you" Maka interrupted him with a spark of anger in her eyes. Usually she could handle Ragnarok pretty well, but the sword was being way too hostile with her. He had been like that since a couple of years before getting married.

"You being worried! AS IF! We don't need you! Just as we didn't need you for the past five years!"

"Ragnarok!" Crona finally put a height, the tone of his voice suggesting his companion that he had gone way too far. But everything had been said now. Ragnarok had pointed out Maka's absence, the fact that for five years she never visited Crona. The fact that for three years she ignored him completely.

For her side, Maka took down the hand that was holding tightly her book, looking at Crona who now was looking at his own feet. Hadn't Crona missed her? Did Crona ignore her deliberately? Maka needed to ask him, now that the issue was out, she needed to ask him the reason of why he stopped being in touch with her.

But Ragnarok wasn't going to let such conversation to happen.

"Now get your fat ass up from the floor and choose something so we can get out of here!" The demon sword vociferated taking his place on top of Crona's head. Definitively he wasn't going to hide in his companion's body to leave them alone. Oh no, Ragnarok was going to watch them very closely.

The moment had vanished, the very moment to ask him something so delicate had faded away and Maka kept the words in her mouth. Ragnarok had never been easy to handle, but she didn't remember him so mean and hostile. The little demon was too egocentric to even feel hatred, because hatred would mean worrying about somebody else beside himself. However, Maka could feel it almost as palpable that it made the air dense around them. At that moment, Ragnarok hated her.

They spent several minutes in that tense silence, a silence that lingered on more and more making them feeling really uncomfortable. Crona already had begun to press his right arm vehemently, his blue eyes looking to the ground and once in a while sliding towards Maka. She, for her part, kept on thinking time after time about what Ragnarok had said. Did the demon sword really hate her? It isn't that she cared a big deal about that, but at the end he was a part of Crona and she couldn't help but ask herself... What would Crona think about her? She knew that he didn't hate her, but would he be really upset with her for not visiting after her wedding? She had practically abandoned him.

Silence grew between them, their silent steps resonating between the corridors of the furniture. They had already made a couple of turns in the whole mattress section and Crona seemed to be on the verge of a fit of nerves. Maka was very aware of the dense environment around them and it was something that didn't please her at all. Being with Crona meant peace, tranquility, a moment to be just how they really were without fearing for what others could think. Crona knew the best and worst of her, he didn't judge her, he looked up at her, he was her best friend

And having to bear the growing tension around them was something that she wouldn't tolerate.

"M-Maka, I..." Crona whispered, trying to finally apologize for what his companion had said. Before being able to continue talking, the swordsman got shoved forcefully to one side, falling on his back on a bed.

Crona opened his eyes only to stare at Maka climbing in the same mattress he was. Sitting at his side on her knees and holding the male with her hands on his shoulders, Maka dedicated him a smile.

"M-Maka! What..."

"How does it feel?" Maka asked keeping the same smile, holding him tightly by his shoulders so he couldn't get up. Crona blushed to the ears, unable to give credit to what he was seeing, to see Maka almost on top of him, trapping him against the bed.

The swordsman could almost feel himself passing out due to the impression of how extremely insinuating that moment was. There it was again, that sensation was completely different to what he usually feels when Blair and Angela push him the same way. With Blair it was only discomfort and some fear because how much of a voluptuous woman... or cat, she was. With Angela it was sheer terror, because he couldn't deal with the witch fooling around with him like that. With Maka... with Maka the feelings of hatred toward himself disappeared, his mind got blank, his stomach twisted inside him and his body began to feel too much.

How did it feel? It felt like an animalistic desire of holding the blonde and not letting her draw away from him. The swordsman's face got even redder when he became aware of his own thoughts.

"AH... I ah... W-w-well..." The pink-haired man stuttered over and over again, his thin body shaking under Maka's touch. The swordsman shivered as the blonde pressed more against his shoulders. "M-M-Maka?"

"Are you sure? It should be a mattress that helps you to rest that achy back of yours" Maka talked while pressing even more her hands against Crona, caressing down from his shoulders to his chest. Was... was Maka touching him? Crona couldn't process what was happening. Maka wasn't like that, his Maka was sweet and she respected him, she...

And it wasn't until he listened some choked yells behind him that he finally understood what was happening. When he got pushed, Ragnarok lost his grasp on his head and fell below his body, body that now Maka was pressing against the mattress to sophocate the little demon.

"Rest is important Crona, I want you to try this mattress until you are sure that you don't want it" Maka growled slightly while pushing Crona further, almost squashing Ragnarok against the soft bed that was giving up under the weight of the swordsman. Soon enough, the struggling behind Crona stopped.

"Maka look out!" The sword meister warned, taking Maka by her shoulders and throwing her on the bed, placing her behind him just in time. Out of Crona's chest, Ragnarok appeared mad as a hornet, throwing punches in the air attempting to catch Maka.

"Damn cow! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Ragnarok roared at the top of his lungs, noticing how the girl now was hiding behind his meister.

"First you have to catch me, midget!" The blonde challenged him while showing him her tongue, smiling proudly.

"You flat-chested bitch! Come here so I can tear you apart!" The sword continued roaring while trying to stretch to surround Crona and catch Maka. The pink-haired meister wasn't moving of his place and Maka remained a few inches far from Ragnarok just to frustrate him further.

"Awwww! The little Ragnarok can't reach! Why don't you take out your feet so you can chase me?"

"M-Maka!" Crona whined with his face showing nothing but horror. She did not just say that to him...

"How dare you!? You make fun of my misery!" Ragnarok roared, suddenly going through Crona's chest without dissolving, but simply piercing throw the swordsman without caring the amount of pain he could cause to his partner. Crona choked back a scream of agony in his throat while his companion was again in his back, trying to tear up the blonde.

Maka saw it coming just in time, because she just retreated to the head of the exhibition bed, remaining out of Ragnarok's reach. With the demon sword out of reach, Maka showed her enormous book up high, throwing it direct to the face of the sword with the complete intention of delivering a savage Maka chop.

The little demon saw it coming, but the motion was too fast to harden himself on time. Ragnarok closed his eyes expecting the blow that would knock him out until the very next day, but the blow never came. When he opened his eyes, the sword only observed that book giving a light poke on his head.

"I missed you too, little Ragnarok" Maka smiled, withdrawing her book of the sword's head, leaving him completely baffled.

Crona, who already had recovered from the pain in his chest and back, couldn't give credit to what he had seen. Usually Maka was merciless when she dealt with Ragnarok, but just what the hell had that been? His companion found himself perhaps all the more affected: It was the first time that somebody said that, as if he was a person instead of a parasite.

The whole world treated him like a parasite, Ragnarok was referred only as the black blood and, truth be told, he was perfectly fine with that. However, it was the first time that somebody told him that beside Crona.

"Get away from me! I insult you and you say that you miss me? You are weird! You are crazy!" Ragnarok vociferated, shaking his arms vehemently and droping a fit. Before Maka could say anything else, the little demon disappeared inside his companion.

"M-Maka..."

"Ragnarok's weakness is kindness, the poor bastard can't deal with that" Maka laughed hiding her book again, sitting in front of Crona in the enormous exhibition bed "I'm sorry if I frightened you"

"U-Uhm, is all right" Crona stuttered with a light blush in his face, lifting his hand to touch his own chest softly where Maka's hands had been before. Her touch had left a light tickling sensation.

"Good, leaving jokes aside... What do you think about this one?" Maka asked while moving a little in the mattress below them. Crona looked down to analyze his answer a moment.

"Very large... I d-don't think it would fit in the door frame"

"Nonsense, even if we need to butter the frame, we will make it fit in!" Maka smiled.

"G-gah! Butter? But that will make everything be slippery and smell weird! no Maka, I w-want a normal one"

"Do you mean one of individual size? Hmm then we should look for one..." The blonde sighed, getting up of the comfortable mattress to walk again searching in the corridors. Crona followed her promptly, keeping up closely to her.

Soon the uncomfortable silence came back, consuming both meisters. Again, Maka's head was filling up with unanswered questions. She had spent a whole day with Crona and they hadn't yet talked about anything. Maka wanted to ask what had happened with him over the past five years, especially during those three years when she lost every contact with him. She wanted to know how he had been, how he was feeling, she wanted to know if he was happy.

Something in Crona's eyes was telling her that he wasn't.

"Sooo... Meena is a Shibusen student?" Maka asked all of a sudden, making the swordsman to jump in surprise.

"Y-yes..." Crona answered trying to control his stutter. He didn't like to talk about Meena with Maka, for some reason Crona simply didn't want Maka to know about her. It was the same sensation that he used to have when he talked with Maka about his bitch of a mother.

"And how did you meet her? I mean, in order for you to have let her get into your life, she surely is somebody very special" Maka asked with the most uninterested tone of voice she could fake, trying not to sound very interested in the subject. The truth was she was way too interested in knowing how the sweet Crona had gotten entangled with such a bitch.

Maka stopped, noticing an individual mattress that seemed comfortable. Sitting on the border, the blonde laid down her hands behind her back to let herself fall a little, testing the softness of the furniture.

"I-In a small town in the S-South, uh is a long history..." Crona mumbled while holding his arm tightly. Definitively, he didn't want to talk about that with Maka.

Fortunately for the pink-haired male, Maka understood the message and decided not to ask more regard that matter. Smiling, the blonde poked the side of the swordsman to call his attention, making the nervous man to squeak.

"Ey, why haven't you bought a bed for the two of you?" Maka asked with an enormous teasing smile.

"M-MAKA!" Crona almost shouted, his face blushing rapidly, his blue eyes looking at Maka with complete incredulity. Did really have Maka just insinuated that?

"Come on Crona! You can't deceive me, in order for a man to bear with such a hideous woman, the sex must be incredible" Maka joked again, crossing her arms and waiting for Crona to react to her joke.

Yes, Maka was insinuating "that" completely. And the reaction of the swordsman was nothing of what she had expected.

"N-n-no Maka! G-GAH! she and I-! No no no no no, I would never!" Crona stuttered, red like a tomato, shaking his hands in front of him as if with that he could reaffirm his answer.

Any other girl wouldn't have believed that, not even for an instant. But it was Crona the man that was in front of her, and Maka believed him. What really impressed her was the fact that...

Crona, at his 26 years, had never been with a woman.

"Are you for real?" Maka asked truly surprised. Crona stopped stuttering, blushing even more while he held his arm nervously. "But she is your girlfriend, right? You both have done something..."

"Uh... w-we hold hands sometimes..." Crona stuttered, really uncomfortable with the questionnaire. His blue eyes were looking from one side to the other hoping that nobody were listening. The swordsman really didn't want to have that conversation with Maka.

"Tell me that you have kissed her, at least tell me that..." Maka asked, his green eyes filling with an idea that began to squeeze her chest. She was expecting an affirmative answer, she was expecting to hear a Yes.

Crona stood there silently, looking away.

Something was burning inside of Maka. It was a known sensation, a sensation that she knew wouldn't leave her alone. Crona was telling her practically that he had been living for three years with a girl that was his girlfriend... and nothing had happened between them? Come on, perhaps Maka was thinking things too much. It was Crona the man she was talking about! Certainly the swordsman had no idea of how to approach Meena. But what stopped Meena of doing it? She looked like the type of girl that wouldn't wait like a maiden for the man to make the first move. Oh no, she looked like the type of girl that would rape Crona when she wanted to.

Maybe, just maybe, her fears were true.

"Crona... who started the relationship? How did it begin? Did you invite her out?"

"I'm not comfortable talking about this, Maka" The swordsman whispered, his now black eyes looking at Maka with deep discomfort. Perhaps she was imagining it, but she could almost swear that there was an aftertaste of pain in those dark eyes.

Maka wouldn't inquire further, for the moment. However it would be very difficult to ignore now her suspicions, her fear... It was very likely that Crona was being used.

Heaving a sigh, the blonde decided to leave the subject, agreeing lightly. Addressing a smile to Crona, Maka gently tapped the mattress next to where she was sitting, inviting him to sit beside her. After a little hesitation the swordsman gripped his own arm before consenting and taking a seat next to her.

"I'm sorry I asked you but I really want to know who is the lucky girl who caught my best friend" Maka tried to apologize, lifting her hand to touch Crona's back softly. The pink-haired meister raised his eyes to look at those emerald ones staring back at him. Maka wouldn't joke about those things, the Maka he remembered never would make fun of him neither she would make nothing to hurt him. Perhaps, only perhaps, those five years hadn't changed her as he had supposed, as Ragnarok and Meena had said she had.

Perhaps Maka still considered him, truly, her best friend.

"I-I like this one..." Crona said all of the sudden with a light stutter. Really, for him all the damn mattresses were just the same. All his life he kept on sleeping in a corner of a cold unfurnished room, later in a dungeon's old bed and at the end a worn mattress for visitors. For him, all those new fresh mattresses felt great, but absolutely similar.

"Hmmm..." Maka looked at him thoughtfully, getting out of bed to judge the price "I think that it will be this one then! All settled! Let's go to the cashier for them to pack it, we should receive it before Kid's party"

"Your party, Maka" Crona corrected, smiling lightly. The smile lasted if only an instant, because the swordsman's face quickly declined to a thoughtful, almost sad expression. "I-I never thought that I would ever see you again... and now you are here, I still don't believe it..."

Before Crona had time to look up, a couple of arms surrounded him into a tight embrace. Maka clung to his body while looking at him quite seriously. Even though it was obvious that Maka had to live her own life, the blonde couldn't help feeling guilty for leaving Crona. The swordsman had always been available for her, at all times. Not caring for his own problems, he had always been there.

There was a time, during their adolescence, when Maka swore always to be at his side, to always be near him. It was just now that she realized how carelessly that promise was made, and how it would never be possible. Not when she had a life and in that life there was no room for the swordsman. It wasn't motive to feel guilty, her leave was completely justified, but that didn't prevent Maka to feel responsible. It wasn't due to a silly promise they had done during their adolescence, but because she really cared about him. Crona was very important in her life, just as important as Soul... and yet she had neglected him.

She couldn't blame Crona for stop writing letters to her.

"Ey..." Maka called him, noticing with a smile how Crona had answered his hug, hedging her by the waist with his arms. In his face was nothing but a light wobble smile.

Crona blinked a couple of times, a light blush dyeing his cheeks. Looking up the swordsman tried to avoid facing Maka while his bashfulness grew more and more. The blonde liked his smile to no end, she actually treasured his smile... maybe because Crona's first genuine smile had been for her. Maka had said it to him several times, how much she liked his smile, and Crona still got to feel lightheaded knowing that Maka liked something about him.

"adorable" Maka laughed, lifting her hand to move some pink locks of hair away from the swordsman forehead, making Crona turn red like a tomato.

"I-I'm n-not adorable M-Maka! I'm a man!" Crona complained shaking his head, releasing the blonde to hold his own arm due to the nervousness of the moment.

"Yes you are, a very adorable man" The meister continued, smiling widely while teasing him further.

"G-Gah!" Crona growled lifting his hands in the open, doing a table-flip.

"Did you just table-flipped me, Crona!?"

"... N-No" The pink-haired meister stuttered looking away, the blush now almost melting his face.

"Yes you did!" Maka roared, jumping to catch Crona's head in a head lock, ruffling his hair gently.

"G-gah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I don't know how deal with being adorable!" Crona whined, closing his eyes shut trying not to think of how close his face was to Maka's cleavage. Really Maka? Didn't she know he had male urges too?

Nope, probably not.

"You don't have to deal with that! You have to accept it! Accept your adorableness" The blonde laughed while her hand ran through the long pink hair locks of Crona. Out of nowhere, Maka freed the swordsman's head who stood away a couple of feet to get back some air. "Damn! I forgot my show!"

"Your... uh? W-what show?" Crona asked while he ran his long fingers through his hair, trying to straighten it again in place. He didn't remember Maka to like TV shows, she preferred books and movies a lot more.

"Oh! It's a TV program that shows at night, really incredible, but I'll miss today's chapter to attend Kid's party" Maka sighed, taking a hand to massage her own neck.

"uh... What it is about?" The swordsman asked tilting his head lightly.

"Oh it's incredible! In the last chapter Ariel, the heroine, escaped the mental hospital along with Judas and his brother Bob, but they were chased by this blonde evil boy that has some pact with a demon and wants Ariel's soul" Maka explained truly excited, making gestures with every word as if she were talking about an epic scene. Soon her energy faded away, heaving a sigh to make a sorrowful defeated pose. "In today's chapter they were going to combat in the forest..."

Crona couldn't give credit to what he was listening, his deep black eyes looking at the blonde fixedly. He remained in silence, as if he tried to understand her words.

"I know, I know... Really silly, but honestly that show is amazing" Maka laughed a little, knowing very well that, no matter how silly she might sound, Crona would never think that about her... The Crona she remembered was a sweetheart and a gentleman to the bone. That is... as long as you don't push his buttons.

"It's quite possible that the mayor had already felt Ariel's magic and now he is after them! What if he kills Ariel? I don't think I can deal with Ariel dying!" Crona complained shaking his head while clenching his fists tightly.

Maka looked at Crona absolutely impressed. Could it be possible that he...?

"Hell no! The cow too!?" Ragnarok roared, getting out of Crona's insides to land on his head. "Stupid baby Jesus in a motorcycle! To have Crona fangasming over that damn show was enough! Now I have to endure the fucking cow too!"

"R-ragnarok, silence"

"Besides I don't know why the hell are you both worried about! Bob can kick those pussies asses at any time!" Ragnarok vociferated giving a light blow on Crona's head as if it were a table.

"Do you both guys watch 'Eternal Madness'?" Maka asked with absolute impression in her face.

"Crona forced me to! Damn show once you start you can't stop!"

"I try to see it every week, b-but when we are on mission I ask B-Blair to record the chapter for me..." Crona smiled lightly, feeling a very pleasant warmth inside of him at seeing Maka smile getting bigger.

"I can't believe it! That is... woah! The show has a lot of audience but woah! I didn't expect that It would be something that you would watch, Crona" Maka laughed, getting close to Crona to take his hand tightly "Now you can't escape! You need to comment the show with me!"

"I-its v-very scary with that d-demon chasing them and a-all those scenes with the chairs m-moving by themselves and... G-gah!" Crona panted with fear in his face, shaking his head trying to get those scenes away from his head.

"Dumbshit Crona couldn't sleep for three nights straight right after that chapter" Ragnarok laughed, remembering perfectly how the swordsman stood in the corner of his room waiting to see some object moving by itself in the dark.

"B-but I like it a lot w-when Ariel and J-Judas are together and h-how they decided not to s-separate spite of all the problems" Crona smiled while his black eyes acquired a dreaming brilliance, as if he was remembering something very pleasant.

"Aaahhh fuck you Crona! You are not going to start with that shit! That show is about demons and gore and death! It's the only thing that makes it awesome!" Ragnarok roared, messing with Crona's hair again while giving him a dose of noogies.

"I-it is not Ragnarok! Ow! Stop it!" The swordsman complained, lifting his hands to take his companion away from his head.

"That, Ragnarok, is what makes the show so thrilling. But the real theme of the series is a history of a pure love that was born between two people marked by death" Maka explained to him with sparkling eyes, staring at Crona who was distracted with his companion, not noticing how he was being observed.

The swordsman could only nod while he managed to take his companion's hands between his, holding Ragnarok still.

"E-Exactly, besides.. t-the story is about how Ariel, a girl that has never l-loved before, and Judas who has n-never being l-loved before, find l-love and t-try to keep it alive no matter the a-adversity and dangers" Crona pointed out with a light satisfied smile, making Ragnarok to roll his eyes with annoyance.

"Ey... perhaps when we come back from the party we could comment it further, Would you like that?" Maka asked while holding Crona's hand between hers lightly. The swordsman turned over to see Maka for a moment with a very shocked face, blushing lightly before agreeing with a soft smile.

Maka had missed that. Those moments when Crona and her would sit on the living room or lock themselves up in her room to read books and to comment them. Teaching Crona to enjoy a reading had been a challenge, but she had always enjoyed every moment at his side. The swordsman knew how to read, of course, but only books that Medusa gave him to learn how to fight. Maka, on the other hand, had taught him how to enjoy an authentic reading and ever since the pink-haired male loved to read. Still, she remembered those nights when both were alternating a book to read to each other, both with a different interpretation of the scenes they read.

It seemed that Crona was remembering the exactly same thing, except that the swordsman acquired a more thoughtful, more melancholic face. Crona missed that too, missed the conversations, the laughs, and most of all he missed to be with her.

"I would like that a lot, Maka" Crona whispered while he deviated a little his stare. He shouldn't have said that, he shouldn't have done that but he couldn't help it. He could never deny anything to Maka.

"Soul never sees that show with me... he says that using the theme of a mental hospital for a romance is very uncool" Maka sighed, her green eyes filling with a feeling that Crona couldn't decipher in time. That feeling vanished almost immediately in her eyes, which turned over to stare at Crona with a smile.

It was obvious. Maka was hiding something... Something painful. If he had to bet, something he never dared to do, he would bet that it had something to do with Soul. Maybe Maka would tell him what was bothering her tonight... Maybe if he ask her...

"We could see the show together... uh if you want of course! is not like w-we have to or..." Crona stuttered while blushing lightly, dodging Maka's eyes. Soon the swordsman felt as the blonde stopped cold in front of him, staring at him "G-gah only If you want! If not, is ok! don't get angry M-Maka..."

Before Crona kept on stammering, Maka lifted her hands to take Crona's face between them, touching his flushed cheeks softly. Smiling tenderly at him, the blonde shook her head with fun.

"That is a great idea" she smiled while caressing his cheeks with her thumbs lightly. Crona swallowed with difficulty, lifting his hands to hold Maka's, not letting her take them away. His black eyes finally stopped avoiding her, staring straight to the beautiful green orbs in front of him.

They were so close... And there was nothing Maka wanted more in those moments than joining her forehead with his and start a resonance. But she no longer wanted to try it, she couldn't try it, she refused to be rejected again and to offend Crona with her meddling. However, the blonde meister couldn't remind to have desired something so much before as she wished to get inside Crona's soul at that moment. Crona, for his part could only keep on fighting against his own desires, his imperious need, he could only bite his own lip and choke back in his throat a cry for help. He had to be strong, for Maka and for his own mental health, he had to be strong.

"Let's get going to pay the mattress, there's only a couple of hours before the party" Maka sighed, releasing Crona's face to take his hand again and walk at his side. The swordsman simply agreed, heaving a sigh before following her.

Ragnarok remained in silence, his attentive round eyes staring at Maka and to those interlaced hands. The demon sword couldn't ignore the facts, the fact that Maka would leave, that Crona would end up torn in pieces, that everything was only an illusion. And at the same time, he couldn't ignore the feeling that was waking up inside his meister, a feeling that had been asleep for the last five years.

For the first time in five years, the spark of happiness began to burn again in Crona. And Ragnarok had no idea of how to deal with the situation.

* * *

"PATTY! I'M WARNING YOU!" Kid roared looking at the woman that was laughing malevolently.

"You have no power over me!" The blonde vociferated while slowly getting her finger closer to the cutlery that was neatly arranged in the enormous dining table.

"Patty" Liz sighed, looking at her sister torturing Kid, who had his eyes like dishes staring at her weapon's finger

"It took me an hour to fix the table symmetrically! Do not dare to ruin the symmetry!"

"Didn't you say that you had overcome your OCD?" Patty asked while keeping the same wicked smile. Her finger was inches from touching a silver fork.

".. Y-yes... But that's not the reason! It's a matter of respect for the hour that took me to order the table!"

"Moving the utensils will not ruin the table"

"But the order of the utensils is done on the basis of the rules of etiquette of any civilized table!" Kid roared again, getting close to Patty to join both his hands in front of her in a prayer "Please Patty! LIZ, SAY SOMETHING!"

"..." The elder sister could only heave a sigh, alternating her look between her little sister and her meister. After a moment where she seemed to be considering options, Liz ended up simply shrugging. "I think that you have to surpass that OCD Kid, a Shinigami can't have such weaknesses"

"YEEHAAA!" Patty shouted before starting moving all of the table utensils out of place, leaving adornments in the center of the table slightly asymmetrical and the utensils misaligned with the ones in front.

Kid couldn't bear it. After shouting at the top of his lungs while such atrocity was committed, he covered his mouth with his hand trying to hold the afternoon tea in his stomach.

"They really have you tangled in their fingers, isn't it Kid?" Kim laughed while observing the God falling on his knees and tilting his face unable to stare at the table any longer. Kim always got surprised of how patient the new Lord Death was with his weapons and how he allowed them to get away with almost everything. That was maybe why The Thompson sister had stayed with him and tolerated his maniac eccentricities.

The soft voice of a woman is able to subdue even the most merciless King" Ox recited with a smile, getting closer to Kim to touch her cheek softly. Kim turned over to see him with an arched eyebrow, shaking her head while he separated from her with a smile.

The young thunder meister had finally renounced his typical bowling haircut, allowing his hair to grow, pleasing Kim. His black hair made him look a lot younger and attractive.

"And if the voice is not enough, her charms will make the trick!" Blair laughed while she ran her hands over her own body, delineating her lathed human figure.

Stein sighed, looking at the young adults around him attentively. He had been invited of course and as always he had refused the invitation, but Marie had insisted that they should go. The blonde teacher was sitting close to Liz, really delighted to be surrounded by so much energy like the one of those young adults.

For the professor it was really weird to be surrounded by former pupils that already had a job, couples, and some even had started their own families. Stein had a family, of course, and that only made it stranger. His students were his equals now and even he had to treat Kid as he used to treat the old shinigami. Perhaps that was which people called "midlife crisis". He really could see his youth slipping from his hands.

Marie was going through exactly the same thing. For her it was harder, especially since she never got to have children of her own, but she used to say that she didn't need them. For Marie, all of her students were like sons for her. Besides, they had Crona.

"Patty, stop torturing Kid and put everything back in place" Liz said all of a sudden, making Patty to stop laughing and make a pout.

"But you said that it was good for him!"

"Kid is right, the table should look tidy, at least put the cutlery where it belongs" Liz sighed, getting up from her seat to help her sister.

"T-thank you Liz, thank you" Kid panted with tears in his eyes, getting close to the blonde to reverence her for her compassion. The oldest of the Thompson could only sigh, shaking lightly her head while suppressing a light smile. Sometimes living with Kid and her little sister was like having two children.

"I cannot believe that neither you nor Crona told me that Maka was in Death City" Marie scolded Stein's who simply drew a cigarette from his pocket to put it into his mouth.

"You didn't ask" Stein said, lighting his cigar to give him a deep drag "And if Crona didn't tell you, certainly he had his reasons"

"You can say whatever you want, but that young boy is going to listen to me when he arrives" Marie threatened with a fixed look in the scientist. By only seeing her, Stein already felt compassion for the poor pink-haired swordsman.

Soon a housemaid walked hurriedly where Kid was, asking something to the god in a whisper close to his ear. The black-haired god smiled, nodding with his head allowing the girl to leave.

"Marie, Crona isn't a child anymore, I believe that at his 26 years he can invite anyone he wants to his apartment" Stein emphasized, still smoking from his cigar. The blonde opened her mouth for an instant before closing it, looking at the scientist with a pout.

"You don't understand Stein, Crona will be always my child" Marie said energetically making Kim to smile. Sometimes the witch asked herself how Crona would have turned if he would have been raised by Marie instead of Medusa. Marie had a pretty strong and explosive temperament, but she worried genuinely for her pupils. For the blonde, Crona had a very important place in her life and her heart.

"Marie is the living nightmare of a mother for any young adult" Blair sighed, opening her eyes widely when the alluded turned over to see her with a murderous glare. Smiling nervously, the cat decided to get up of her place to go hide in Kim's arms, turning into her feline form.

"Crona isn't any young adult, I think that he'll never get tired of having somebody worrying about him" Kim laughed while caressing Blair's loin lightly. How could Crona get tired of having Marie in his life? He had never had the warmth that only a mother could give. Although shy, Kim knew very well that the swordsman enjoyed enormously having somebody worrying about him.

"W-who gets worried?" Crona asked while peeking inside the dining room. With a wobble smile, he raised his free hand to greet everyone in the room.

"Crona!" Blair celebrated jumping off Kim's lap to run towards the swordsman. Taking her between his arms, Crona's little smile grow a bit while entering the living room. Behind him was Maka with an enormous smile, greeting everyone who was celebrating her appearing.

Well, they weren't many, and Maka was really grateful for that. She didn't want neither had the energy to deal with more people than the one of her little social circle. She had never been a very social or popular person, and she wanted to keep it that way.

After the hugs and the greetings, Kid announced dinnertime, letting his guests to take their designated places in the huge dining room.

Usually for anybody else, it would be somewhat uncomfortable to be in a meeting of friends with people who once were your professors. However, Stein and Marie were much more than their professors; they had been their friends and brothers in arms. They had been there fighting shoulder to shoulder against the Kishin and spilling just as much blood as they did. More than professors, Stein and Marie were comrades and friends of those young and enthusiast adults.

Patty served herself several dishes of a lot of different meals at the table. She could be 27 years old, but Patty was a good example that age only was a time measure and not a behavioral standard. Liz, who had to take care of her little sister from a very young age and had had to mature a long time ago, was looking at the blonde hyperactive girl with a warm loving smile. She, unlike Patty, kept her decorum in the table worthy of any avant-garde woman. Kid found himself seated in between both sisters and at the head of the table, keeping his valued symmetry.

Maka and Crona decided to sit side by side next to Liz, while Kim and Ox filled their dishes in front of them. Stein and Marie seated one in front of the other while Blair was closing the circle of the table sitting at the end. Kid was really obsessed spite that he had been fighting for years against his OCD, which was an expression of his inheritance as a Shinigami: The madness of order.

"Patty, if you eat all that you are going to get ill" Liz warned her young sister who made a pout.

"Challenge Accepted! Who wants to bet?" Patty roared while filling her dish to the top with her favorite food. Kid, like a good host, hadn't worried for any expenses to receive such a great friend and legend as Maka Albarn.

"I'm sorry to tell you this but you are the only one here with such an appetite Patty..." Liz sighed, smiling lightly and shaking her head. Crona opened his eyes surprised, biting his lip.

"3 ... 2 ... 1 ..." Kim sighed, observing the poor swordsman that seemed more nervous than usual. With the precision of a clock, Ragnarok got out of Crona's insides.

"I accept the bet! I'll beat you down!" Ragnarok roared with the fists up high, making Patty to cheer, happy to have a worthy rival.

"I want to see you trying, Ragnarok" Marie said suddenly, looking at the little demon who, for Maka's surprise, shuddered slightly.

"M-manners..." Crona stuttered looking at his companion above his head.

"Dammit Crona! We never eat this kind of food! I know that you are drier than a rock but let me live a little!"

"We would let you amuse yourself if you weren't so disgusting when you do it" Kim growled while pointing at the demon sword with her fork.

"I wouldn't have said it better" Maka agreed giving Kim a thumb up, making the pink-haired witch to smile victorious.

"Between Patty and Ragnarok, I don't know if it's a fortune or a misfortune that Black Star and Tsubaki hadn't been able to come" Ox smiled, turning over to see Kid who looked back at him with a face of horror.

"It is not like I don't miss Black Star, but his absence in the table is something I don't mind" Kid said while making sure that his cutlery was in order before beginning to serve himself exact and similar quantities of food in his dish.

"I didn't think that someday I would say it but I miss Black Star... only a bit" Maka laughed lightly, remembering the brute male that wanted to surpass the gods.

"Black Star was good at eating! A worthy opponent at the table!" Patty cheered, starting to eat with pleasure.

"EY! Don't start just yet! I haven't got any food!" Ragnarok shouted, punching Crona's head.

And in the middle of the shouts and laughs, Stein stood in silence, observing everything and everyone with a light smile.

That was exactly what Maka needed. Familiarity, a get-together, pleasant chatting in the table and above all the constant warmth of somebody beside her. Although incomplete, almost everybody important in her life were there, with her. Only Soul was missing...

But Maka didn't want to think about him right now.

"Crona! Pass me that bottle of wine! I want to try the taste of Stripes"! Ragnarok vociferated aiming towards the bottle of wine near them.

"No" Crona said without stuttering, surprising Maka and taking her out of her thoughts.

"No!? What the fuck do you mean with no!?"

"Y-you have behaved very badly R-Ragnarok, you don't deserve any reward"

"Way to go Crona! Teach him who's the boss!" Patty encouraged him while stuffing her mouth with spaghetti.

"eating is not a reward, imbecile! It's a need! Now feed me!"

"technically is a reward for you, Ragnarok, you obtain all the nutrients you need from Crona" Stein pointed out, fidgeting with the food on his dish using a fork.

"Haven't you seen how much Crona eats!? If I take what little he eats we'll both starve to death!" The demon sword roared, pulling the swordsman's hair.

"Y-you don't deserve to eat, you have been very rude to M-Maka today" Crona said with his voice as firm as possible, lifting his hands to hold Ragnarok's fists, stopping the aggressions toward his head.

"What!? You want to deprive me of food!? To punish me? To make me starve!? You are just like your horrible mother!"

"G-GAH! TAKE THAT BACK!" Crona panted, turning pale due to his companion's words.

"NEVER! Feed me!"

"Don't let him boss you around, Crona, show him who is in charge!" Maka backed him up suddenly, placing her hand on his shoulder, a thing that the pink-haired male was thankful for. Near them, Marie couldn't help but stare at the scene attentively, almost studying them.

"I-I shall not give you anything until you behave" Crona said with firmness, feeling stronger thanks to Maka's hand on his shoulder.

"I will behave alright!? You can't do this to me!"

"And how are we supposed to believe you, Raggy?" Liz asked with a smirk.

"I believe that you should offer us a guarantee" Ox said, watching quite amused how the demon sword started to look more worried each second "perhaps if you promise to be nice..."

"What!?"

"Good idea!" Marie said all of a sudden, taking the bottle of wine in front of Ragnarok and serving a little in a wineglass, teasing Ragnarok with it. "Let's make a deal"

"A Deal!? This is blackmailing!"

"call him however you want, Ragnarok ..." Crona growled while taking the glass of wine that Marie offered him "I want you to stop being rude with M-Maka... as long as she is with us"

"Dammit Crona, traitor! Don't you know anything about the Bro Code!? Bros before Hos!" The weapon roared totally incensed. Maka couldn't help laughing with the situation, getting close to Crona and Ragnarok with a sneering smile.

"Raggy, you better be nice to me..." Maka sang softly smiling widely.

"Fuck you!" Ragnarok growled turning his back on the blonde and crossing his arms.

"P-professor Stein says that you don't need to eat... I-I think that I'll g-give it a try this week" The pink-haired male commented amazingly calm while his fingers fidgeted with the glass of wine in his hand. Kim, that was sitting in front of him, couldn't avoid noticing how the young meister acquired an air of sophistication. Crona was completely oblivious of his own person, he didn't have the slightest idea of how he looked at that moment. At least Medusa had been generous enough to inherit him her beauty.

Kim was not the only one that noticed that, because Maka was staring at Crona who was keeping an arrogant face while playing with the glass of wine between his fingers. It was clear that his pose was all mockery, that he was trying to bother Ragnarok. But really... he looked quite good. That proud attitude was extremely unusual in Crona, but it wasn't the first time that Maka saw him acting like that. Five years ago the swordsman had learned how to be conceited once in a while, although always in a playful way. That attitude had helped his self-esteem a lot and like a bonus always made Maka laugh.

"you wouldn't dare..." Ragnarok growled while looking at the wineglass in Crona's hands attentively.

"We'll see that" Crona agreed while he slowly placed the wineglass at the table.

"FINE! All right! Bloody murder, I'll be good! Now give me the wineglass" The demon sword yelled, trying to reach for the liquor.

"Promise that you'll behaved and you'll be kind to Maka"

"Yeah yeah, whatever! Now give me-"

"He has to promise" Marie warned him, having fun just like Maka was, enjoying the whole scene.

"Gah! I promise, alright!?"

"Promise that you won't give her nicknames neither you will say anything offensive to her" Crona indicated, lifting a little the wineglass for Ragnarok, but not close enough in order for him to catch the wine's scent. Blair was laughing, enjoying the little demon's stress.

"I PROMISE TO TREAT HER LIKE A FUCKING GODDESS! NOW GIVE ME THAT!" Ragnarok roared, finally losing his patience. Crona sighed, bringing the wineglass near his partner, allowing Ragnarok to take it. The demon sword emptied the glass in one gulp.

"Woah Raggy, I like the sound of that!" Maka laughed, smiling mockingly. Ragnarok ignored Maka, obliging Crona to bend over just to catch the complete bottle of wine.

"Fucking bitch ass cow!"

"R-ragnarok!"

"Don't drop your panties! You didn't specify at what time I should start! I'm starting now!" He vociferated before taking the bottle to his wide open mouth and emptying it in long gulps.

"S-slowly! You'll make me dizzy!"

"And I am just starting! MUAHAHAHA!" The sword laughed in his best interpretation of an evil laughter before tipping up the bottle again.

It wasn't the first time that Maka saw Ragnarok drinking too much, but for some reason she noticed that Crona hadn't complained or even tried to stop him like he used to. He looked almost accustomed to it.

"Since we are in that now..." Kid said after clearing his throat, lifting his glass of wine with a smile. Imitating the Shinigami, the guests raised their wineglasses too. Ragnarok lifted the now empty bottle of wine, brandishing it straight ahead as if it were a sword "this little meeting is a welcoming for our dear friend Maka Albarn, let's hope that she honors us with her presence much more frequently from now on"

They all agreed with a smile while the little black demon bit his own tongue to hold back one of his nasty comments. Feeling his companion's stress, Crona took a piece of ham of the table and put it into the mouth of his weapon to shut him up.

"You can't escape now Maka, spit absolutely everything! What has happened with you during these five years?" Liz asked with a half smile, looking at Maka inquisitively. Such was the curiosity that all the guests stopped paying attention to his dishes to face the small blonde attentively.

"Can't we wait after eating? Eating and talking at the same time is not really my thing..." Maka laughed a bit, noticing how everyone kept on looking at her expecting her story.

"You are a damn noob! Learn from me!" Ragnarok vociferated, talking with his mouth full with the ham that Crona had given him. After swallowing it resoundingly, he stretched his paw-like hand to point at a sausage. Sighing, his meister brought the meal closer so he could grab it and eat it.

"By only seeing you eating I lose my appetite ..." Liz complained while Crona just sat there staring at his sword devouring as much sausages as he could.

"seeing your face provokes me nausea and I say absolutely nothing!"

"Ragnarok!" Crona scolded him, speaking up for Liz.

"Maka..."

"Shut up Crona! The deal was only for Maka, don't try to be a smartass with me!" The sword laughed malevolently, giving Crona a sudden noogie attack.

"Ow ow ow ow! Enough! Ow!"

"Make me!" Ragnarok roared victorious, intensifying his attack on Crona's skull.

"CHOP!" Maka ended up saying, dropping her heavy book on the head of an unprepared Ragnarok that ended up almost melting on top of Crona's head, flat as a pancake. Kim, Blair and Patty couldn't help but laugh seeing the little demon get what he deserved. On the other hand, Marie and Kid had a countenance of frankly annoyance.

"I thought that you were going to teach him some manners, Crona" Marie sighed, shaking her head lightly.

"I-I'm working on that..." Crona apologized blushing lightly. Crona knew table manners perfectly; Medusa had taken care of that. She used to starve him for days if he managed to get dirty with the meals when he was an infant. Those rules never were applicable for Ragnarok, who the witch let him do his will. Educating the demon sword now proved to be a much more difficult task.

"An old dog can't learn new tricks" Blair sang softly, knowing perfectly and better than anybody that Ragnarok was a lost cause.

"Well, this old dog will have to learn, as a Death Scythe he can't have such behavior. After all, the Death Scythes are Lord Death's representatives" Stein said with a neutral tone of voice, not giving too much importance to the theme.

"I believe, professor, that you don't give Raggy enough credit. After all, manners have little importance when you have so much power" Kim commented, looking at the demon sword who started recovering from the savage attack of Maka.

"Kim, with great power comes great responsibility. As a Death Scythe, the prestige of Shibusen and the credibility of Lord Death relapse on his shoulders" Ox said for a moment, noticing how the witch gave him a bothered stare which the black-haired meister responded with one of his enormous conciliatory smiles.

"RAGNAROK IS A DEATH SCYTHE!?" Maka almost shouted, looking at everyone in the table with a dumbfounded expression on her face. They all looked at Maka with incredulity.

"... You didn't know?" Kim asked frowning lightly. Liz and Patty exchanged discreet suspicious stares. Stein's face was stoic, however he pressed Marie's hand under the table to prevent the blonde from saying anything. Marie had to bite her lip, looking at Crona anxiously, feeling an anger raising deep inside her, an anger that wasn't directed to the swordsman.

Maka, however, didn't notice anything of this because her attention was completely directed at Ragnarok and Crona, who had now a sorrowful look in his eyes.

Kid was staring at Ragnarok too. His penetrating golden eyes seemed to try to decipher a puzzle written on the weapon and Crona's face. Crona's face could seem easily like one of shame, but what Kid could perceive perfectly ... was that Crona was sad. To notice sadness in the swordsman was an art, because the years of suffering had left him with a facial expression of eternal melancholy. Noticing sadness, a sadness beyond the usual one in the swordsman, wasn't easy.

Crona was hiding something, something important, and Kid couldn't avoid thinking that it had to do with that missing mail. Something there was terribly asymmetric, it didn't fit.

"I' didn't know... I mean... Is supposed that every new Death Scythe is announced the day of their rebirth, right? all main stations advertise it for a week. Neither Soul nor I knew anything about this..."

"I-Is because I am not a student, M-Maka ... t-therefore Ragnarok is not a death scythe..." Crona tried to explain, trying to hide his pain as far as he could. If Maka would have read his letters, she would have known...

"Bah! Bureaucracy! You and Raggy are students like any of us!" Patty roared, smiling largely at the swordsman while cheering him up with her thumb up high.

"I Am a Death Scythe! And not just any death scythe! I am the most powerful weapon of Stripes! I am a damn weapon of mass destruction!" Ragnarok vociferated, finally recovered of the savage Maka Chop he suffered minutes ago.

Maka had a face of total incredulity. She tried to understand, she was trying it hard. Every new Death Scythe is announced worldwide, because the amount of weapons in existence wasn't much. That the demon sword, a weapon that hadn't been far away of turning his meister into a Kishin, was now a Death Scythe, should have been the gossiping of every employee of Lord Death for months. However, she never listened anything regarding that matter.

And it was because, officially, neither Ragnarok nor Crona were student of Shibusen. After his treason, Crona and Ragnarok were thrown off the academy. A high treason often resulted in an execution, but the old Lord Death forgave them and allowed the swordsman to return to the academy. However, a punishment was necessary...

Lord Death allowed Crona to stay in the academy to protect him. His actions were of public knowledge and therefore it was impossible to allow him to return as a student. The following five years, right after the fall of the Kishin Asura, Crona lived in Shibusen as a prisoner. Like a prisoner, Crona had been prohibited, under penalty of death, to leave Death City. He wasn't able to do missions.

Knowing this... How did Crona to obtain the 99 Kishin's eggs and the Witch's soul to turn Ragnarok into a Death Scythe? Crona had been out on a trip... Alone?

Kid seemed to notice the confusion in Maka's face, then after taking a light sip of his glass of wine, he cleared his throat to call her attention.

"Right after the death of my father, Crona's case ended in my hands. It was my job now to decide what I should do with him and his future ..."

"Then Kid had a brilliant idea!" Patty cheered with a big smile.

"It was there when Shibusen decided to implement, at the same time of the creation of the group Eclipse, a rehabilitation program and community service" Kim explained, looking at Crona who was pressing his right arm tightly.

"Volunteers receive a technical course and attend multiple classes. His task is helping Shibusen in anything that is necessary"

"F-from washing latrines t-to join students in their m-missions... I've never washed any latrines thank god! I d-don't know if I could deal with that" Crona panted with fear in his face, shaking his head several times while a shudder traveled his spine.

Maka understood everything all of a sudden. It made sense. It was, in fact, brilliant.

"Since you were unable to have Crona as a student, you added him into the system as a volunteer, giving him student's work under the name of community service" Maka concluded with an impressed expression on her face. Kid nodded, very proud of his own idea. For five years Crona had had to remain enclosed in Death City, unable to help the Academy or being of any use. When the swordsman needed it the most, Kid came up with the perfect solution.

"I deposited my trust in Crona and allowed him to leave the city. A year later what I got in return was a Death Scythe" Kid smiled, looking at the swordsman who answered the gesture the same way, giving the shinigami a small grateful smile. Maka could see in that expression how thankful her friend was with Kid. She couldn't help feel relieved... Crona wasn't alone in Death City.

"Woah..." Maka sighed quite impressed, turning over to see little Ragnarok who now was flexing his skinny little arms, strutting around like a peacock in mating season. That explained a lot of things, starting with the change of appearance in his weapon form. Crona had managed to create a Death Scythe... He had triumphed over 99 kishin eggs and exterminated a witch all by himself. Really, she never had believed that possible...

Because, to start with, Crona hated to fight.

"Eeeey! We are not here to talk about things that we already know! We want to know about you!" Kim tried to change the conversation, giving all of her attention to Maka "confess, did you leave Soul taking care of the children at home?"

Maka looked at Kim with wide open eyes and a light blush in her cheeks. She opened her mouth to protest, but the laughter of everyone on the table shut her up, making her blush even more. There was somebody, however, that wasn't laughing, someone that didn't found the question funny at all. Crona found himself pale and quiet at the table while his icy blue eyes were staring at Maka. Ragnarok was looking at the blonde too, his toony eyes half-closed with suspicion.

Did Maka and Soul have children?

* * *

**Akire Rosales**: if you are reading this note, I love you. I love you I love you I love you! Thank you so much for your patience and for staying with me and my horrible grammar! I know I probably lost a reader or two due to how long it took me to deliver this chapter, but as long as there are people reading this far, I'll keep going!

I won't bother you with the reasons of why it took so long for this chapter to come out, but I hardly think that it will happen again. I hope.

The good news? While I was making this chapter, more ideas popped out… and I am dying to get to later chapters of this fanfic! Actually I'm already working on next chapter… I'll only say this: I've been waiting so long to write chapter 6! muahaha!

I know this fanfic was supposed to be a 10 chapter thing, but it seems now that it will be a 15 chap, at most.

Slowly but surely, we are getting there! I don't know about you all, but I am excited!

For last, this story has fanart! I KNOW! I can't believe it myself. Thanks a lot to SakiCakes who draw Adult!Crona with his new attire and his long hair, inspired in this very story. Go watch her at deviantart! I draw something too, but you better don't look at it xD might be a spoiler of a future chapter.

That was the first fanart someone does for one of my stories… I am so damn happy! I love you SakiCakes!

And I love all of you who are reading this! Thanks a lot and see you next chapter!


	6. Make him love you

**AkireRosales: **Warning, this is a big ass monster of 16,855 words. Also, this chapter was brought to you 2 weeks earlier thanks to my new beta-reader applezaira! Girl you rock! Thanks for helping me with this beast!

Just a quick note before starting this chapter: Rate changed to M because of Ragnarok swearing and future content (because I am a little paranoid when it comes to this webpage). Also, remember when I said that this story was Anime Crona and Manga Maka? You'll see what Im talking about in here. It doesnt matter if you havent read the manga, you'll understand, I think xD

I made little changes too to old chapters, nothing big.

And finally, I hope it worths the wait. Enjoy!

* * *

**Whispers**

**Chapter 6**

**"Make him love you"**

_She had been home alone for two weeks._

_Being a four star meister, Maka's life fluctuated between very busy seasons and calm ones. Contrary to what anyone might think, the quiet seasons were the worst. Maka was in a quiet season, teaching two times per week in Germany's Academy for Weapons and Meisters._

_Soul had gone on a mission only for Death Scythes. His missions consisted in joining up with other Death Scythes of other countries to discuss problems directly ordered by Lord Death the Kid, among other duties. It was an important job, especially for Soul who was considered the best Death Scythe of all time, even better than Spirit, by far._

_Maka was proud of him, because overall Soul, her husband, was the fruit of her hard work as a meister. Soul was her dream, her purpose, her reason of being a weapon meister._

_Then why did she feel so empty? Why did she feel so incomplete? Perhaps it was because she had been alone in their apartment for two weeks... Perhaps because Soul's absence due to his work reminded her of the weeks that she used to be alone, when Spirit used to disappear._

_Now more than ever, Maka felt firsthand what her mother had endured for years. The absence of love, the absence of that special person by your side ... She knew well that Soul would never be unfaithful, that he was actually absent due to work. However, that sense of loneliness and abandonment was heartbreaking for her._

_The first two years were great. Between the joy of being newly-weds and the stress of starting an independent life, Maka hadn't noticed those details. When Soul was absent, Maka did not notice the solitude thanks to the correspondence that she maintained with Crona. It was almost a game: One would respond to the letter as soon as they received it, sending the new one immediately. During the weeks that Maka was alone, she was consoled by receiving, writing and rereading her best friend's letters._

_It had been seven months without knowing anything about him and the solitude began to suffocate her. What was even worse... was that she was more interested in knowing how Crona was doing, than how Soul was doing on his mission. It was probably because she knew Soul could take care of himself, perhaps because Soul was in a meeting with colleagues... Crona was alone in Death City, and Maka had not seen him in almost three years._

_She missed her friend. She missed those evenings she use to spend with him watching movies when Soul was absent. She missed the nights when they read side by side, when they listened to music, when they went out for a walk at night. Living alone now with Soul, Maka began to notice the enormous void that Crona had left. The loneliness was unbearable._

_"Would you like to try and have children?" It had been Soul's question after she had mentioned to him how lonely she felt when he was not there._

_Children? With Soul? Sure, it was something that any married couple discussed in determined moment. However, the question at the moment had made her turn pale. What terrified her was not even the idea of motherhood, but the idea of raising a child and explain why his dad was never home. And when she and Soul were both on a mission, would the neighbors take care of the child as how it happened to her when she was younger? Leaving their child with the fear that their parents following mission could be the last?_

_Was children the answer for her loneliness?_

_"Not yet," she had responded, and the rest of dinner passed in silence._

* * *

"Makaaaaa!" Patty's voice managed to take Maka out of her thoughts. The blonde meister had remained silent after the question was brought up. "Earth to Maka!"

"Great job! You broke her!" Ragnarok laughed with a malicious smile, leaning on Crona's head who was looking at Maka attentively. The swordsman wanted to know the answer to the question, and at the same time didn't want to know anything about it.

"Maka?" Kid asked arching an eyebrow, noticing how his friend seemed to be recovering from the shock. What was wrong with an innocent question like that?

"I'm sorry" Maka apologized, smiling as to not worry her friends who were staring at her, waiting for an answer " No, no children, I'm only 25 years old!"

"Ah ah, do not underestimate your age, Maka," Marie said suddenly, quite interested in the conversation, "Do not think you'll have children on the first try, those things can take years."

"I don't think that's the problem, the fun is in making them!" Blair smiled enormously, enjoying how Maka blushed bright red at the insinuation.

"Do we really have to talk about that?" Kim sighed, noticing Ox's enormous smile who did not waste the opportunity to take her hand and to arch his eyebrows coquettishly.

"Children are great, especially for torture!" Patty commented with a grin.

"Well said, dammit!" Ragnarok shouted, putting his hand up for Patty to high five him.

Stein could only sigh, glancing at Crona who kept his head down, staring at his plate as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. It was obvious that the subject was uncomfortable for him, but Stein knew exactly what the problem was. It was time to change the subject.

"How's work in Germany?"

"Ah?" Maka turned to see Professor Stein, grateful for the sudden change of subject. Maka definitely did not want to discuss those issues with everyone. It was too intimate.

"Mein straisen cow!" Ragnarok roared trying to imitate the German language. Crona finally came out of his stupor, very upset glancing at his companion who raised his hands in a conciliatory way. "I didn't say anything!"

"Hasserfüllt zwerg" Maka growled in a near-perfect German accent, smiling mockingly at Ragnarok's wide eyes.

"What did you say!?"

"I didn't say anything!" The blonde said imitating Ragnarok, but holding the same deprecating smile.

"Of course you did! You can't fool me!" The sword demon roared angrily, about to break loose in insults against the scythe meister.

"Ragnarok" Crona called his attention with a serious look, bringing closer an unopened bottle of wine to his companion. The sword looked at the bottle for an instant before taking it between his little hands and biting off the cork, emptying the content in his enormous mouth. Maka didn't worth enough to miss the unusual opportunity to drink as much as he could.

"You shouldn't let him drink like that" Maka tried to warn him, observing the demon sword emptying a second bottle into the swordsman's bloodstream.

"I-it's okay... Ragnarok keeps the effects to a minimum" Crona sighed, taking a bite of food up to his mouth.

"I've never understood that" said Kim, watching as Ragnarok finished emptying the bottle of wine, accommodating it next to the other empty bottle, proud of his achievement.

"Ragnarok is Crona's blood. He has the ability to manipulate what goes into Crona, retaining nutrients, or even preventing poison from infecting him" Stein said, noticing the pink-haired swordsman who slowly were eating his plate. "That explains why Crona does not gain weight no matter how much Ragnarok eats."

"...You are a cancer" Maka concluded, looking at the little demon with scornful eyes. She had always wondered the reason why, no matter how much Ragnarok filled his huge mouth with food, Crona was still so thin.

"Excuuuuuuuse me for not allowing my user to become a fat cow!" Ragnarok growled, staring at Maka from top to bottom. "Besides, all that Crona eats goes straight to his ass, so you don't notice when he gains weight!"

"R-Ragnarok!" Crona gasped with his eyes wide open, directing his companion an annoyed look, slightly blushing.

"What? It's the truth! Your ass would put Shakira to shame!" Ragnarok shouted, sliding down the back of his meister to give a strong slap on Crona's butt "DAT ASS!"

"G-GAH!" Crona grumbled, pushing off Ragnarok while Kim and the others laughed at the situation.

One of those who did not laugh, besides Professor Stein and Marie, was Kid who was looking at Maka attentively.

"It's a good question, Maka how are things in Germany?" Kid asked with a half smile, raising his glass to take a small sip. Why did Kid ask something like that? She had always kept in touch with him through the Death Room's mirror.

Unless the question was not about her work in reality. Maka noticed it was just that, as the laughs decreased, everyone paying attention to her again. They would not definitively leave her alone until she said something.

"It's interesting..." Maka began, bringing her hands to her wineglass half finished before her. Crona stopped fighting with Ragnarok, looking at her attentively. "we do not have a lot of field missions, Soul and I. The directors prefer to send employees who still need more experience. Soul travels a lot... Conferences and meetings with other Death Scythes..."

"Oh yeah, I remember that Spirit met up with Soul in one of those meetings" Kid muttered, remembering well of Spirit's grumbling about the issue.

"I'm teaching at the Academy of Germany, is small compared to Shibusen, but it's better than waiting for a mission" Maka laughed lightly, bringing her glass to her lips to take a drink.

"Booooring! I totally understand, now that Kid took over as Lord Death, we also aren't going on missions" Patty complained, looking reproachfully at Kid while the shinigami just sighed.

"It's complicated, there are very few occasions when I can leave the academy" Kid explained, looking at Maka with a smile.

"We will never be Death Scythes!" Patty sighed, looking enviously at Ragnarok who smiled widely, showing his huge tongue in mockery.

"But couldn't you guys go on a mission with another meister?" Maka asked looking at the two blondes.

"Liz and Patty just need a witch soul to become Death Scythes" Kid tried to explain, "But due to the truce that we have with Maaba and the Witch Council, we can only execute witches who have violated the rules of the Council or the truce with Shibusen."

"And usually the witches who do that are very powerful, like Arachne and Medusa" Kim sighed "We have lost many students by the hands of witches this way..."

"Not forgetting that they hide very well, Shibusen requires months to find the track of those witches" Ox trailed, looking thoughtful for a moment.

"I know that there haven't been any new Death Scythes for a long time, but I didn't know that things were so bad" Maka frowned, noticing how Kid's face darkened.

"We've lost a lot of students that go on missions to investigate powerful kishins or rumors of fugitive witches and never return. But when I send a four star meister to investigate the disappearances, they don't find any clue"

"That's the reason we are emphasizing battle training with students, such as the class you attended, Maka" Stein pointed out, finishing his meal which was quickly removed by one of the employees of the mansion.

"Then the kids in that class were of one star?" the scythe meister asked astonished. She couldn't believe the new students received lessons much more difficult and hard than what she received when she was a one star meister.

"Oh you haven't heard the best part! Shibusen's melee coaches are Professor Sid, Professor Mifune and-"

"The first assistant Crona Makenshi!" Blair cheered, raising her glass in a matter of a toast. The aforementioned glanced at the cat, smiling slightly.

"Hey!? What about me!?" Ragnarok roared, giving a slight blow on his meister's head.

"And Ragnarok..." Kim added with a sigh of disgust, enjoying the little demon's raging look.

"Woah..." Maka exclaimed, turning to look at her friend sitting next to her, impressed "You're everywhere, Crona!"

"I-I'm a volunteer... I help wherever is needed..."

"And with the disappearance of many meisters, we need all the help available" said Marie placing her plate aside, "Even Kid has gone out to try and find the culprit."

"Chances are that it is a witch. No Kishin egg could cover his tracks so well."

"How is that Shibusen has problems and we have not heard anything about it?" Maka asked, frowning, staring at Kid. He had never mentioned any of this during their talks in the Death Room.

"We can't go around taking other Death Scythes from their posts just because students have disappeared... Without corpses there's no crime, and with no witnesses there's no culprit" Stein explained as he withdrew a new cigarette from his pocket "All we can do is enhance our students preparation, and get new students."

"Now we recruit anyone with skills to be a meister, and try to convince all weapons to join Shibusen... I guess you've met Meena?" Liz asked, unable to hide the disdain in her voice.

Crona turned pale, turning to look at the older Thompson with imploring eyes. _Please, please don't start talking about her!_

"Who? The witch that haunts Crona's apartment?" Maka growled showing the same disdain as Liz. It seemed that she was not the only one who did not like Meena.

"Exactly, Maka! Well said!" Patty vigorously slapped the table.

"That woman needs a muzzle and a leash" Kim muttered with anger in her eyes.

"She needs to learn good manners... the old-fashioned way," Blair smiled coldly while her golden eyes glowed in intense hatred.

Marie kept quiet, biting her tongue with force. Stein meanwhile just inhaled deeply on his cigarette.

"I have never understood the excessive hatred toward her. She is not only a dedicated and professional weapon, she is also Crona's girl..." Kid said looking at all the guests who didn't bother to hide the disdain on their faces.

"Kid, for being a Shinigami, you're way too short-sighted" Liz sighed before taking a swig of her glass. Everyone there had a shared view on the swordsman's "little girlfriend"; opinion based on direct experience. But they were just that, opinions... The girl was a dedicated student, and as long as Crona agreed, she would continue being close to him.

"Then Meena is a weapon?" Maka asked as he turned to see Crona who let out a deep sigh of defeat. "Who is her meister?... Crona?"

"N-not me..."

"An advanced class boy changed his companion for her when she arrived" Ox said with a slight frown. For a student of Shibusen, renouncing your partner was one of the few things that could be considered a real failure. It was as if you were giving up on a family member.

"Although she did try to become Crona's weapon, she came over and talked to me a several number of occasions trying to find a way" Stein remembered, smoking his cigarette slowly between his lips.

"The damned bitch! Crona is mine!" Ragnarok shouted, dragging the words slightly. The little demon was going to half his third bottle of wine. Crona sighed, settling slightly in his seat. Maka could see that, in spite of Ragnarok keeping the effects of the alcohol far from his meister, the swordsman had his eyes lightly half-closed already.

"And I can't have another weapon, I could infect them during a resonance."

Crona didn't need to explain more. One of the effects of the black blood was the ability to infect both the meister and the weapon during soul resonance. As Soul and she had found out, just a drop of black blood was enough to infect a new host. Soul was infected in the same way that a human would be infected with a contagious disease... but showed no symptoms. It was much like having a dormant disease, it was latent and controlled. Soul controlled his black blood through sheer will and keeping a calm mind.

Crona, on the other hand, had been infected since he was a baby. Unable to even understand his own condition, the pink-haired child could not fight the black blood. That is how Crona's blood turned black forever, and madness would be the symptom which he would have to fight all his life.

Why then wasn't Maka infected? The blonde meister had a Grigori soul, which protected her from getting permanently infected with black blood. She couldn't avoid the infection during the resonances with Soul, but her weapon's control over his blood allowed them to maintain sane.

Crona didn't have such control. The ability to control his disease had been way long lost as a child. Therefore, if he tried to acquire a new weapon... that weapon would suffer the same fate as Soul, if not worse.

"If any try to take my meister I will make their lifes a nightmare! I'll make them explode inside out! Shatter their heart and eat their souls!" Ragnarok shouted, obviously drunk. Twisting on Crona's back, the little demon turned to look very closely at Maka "I'll shatter the heart of anyone who tries to enter Crona's!"

Maka frowned at his words, watching Ragnarok intently, not retreating for a moment.

"Someone's jealous" Blair smiled hugely, deflecting the confrontation that occurred between Ragnarok and Maka. The demonic sword turned to see the magical cat, directing all of his attention to her. "What's wrong Raggy? Are you afraid of your meister's attention being taken away from you?"

"Ragnarok! I had no idea you had feelings! It's adorable!" Kim teased with a half smile, looking the demon defiantly.

"NEVER! For me Crona can go to hell!" The demon roared, giving a strong punch to the skull of the swordsman.

"Ow! Ragnarok control yourself!" the pink-haired meister complained, holding the demon's little hands with his.

"Don't let anyone fill that empty head of yours with delusions!" his partner shouted, the tone of his voice making it evident that three bottles by himself was too much. Judging by the swordsman's sobriety, Maka could guess that the weapon was holding all that alcohol in his body... if it could be called that way.

"You're too late Ragnarok, you already let Meena in" Kid sighed, not at all enjoying the little black demon trying to ruin the dinner.

"That witch is fine! She's my bitch and I control her! Crona doesn't like her and that's better!" the little demon growled without realizing what he had said, lifting his third bottle of wine, emptying it before breaking it on his solid head.

Ragnarok was starting to say very interesting things.

"What do you mean, Ragnarok?" Maka asked with a frown. Blair tensed, looking at Crona who kept his eyes down. Marie could only sigh, looking away, unsure of whether to stop the conversation.

The demon seemed to finally have realized what he had said, seeing as he now remained unusually quiet. With a snort, he decided to dissolve back into his partner.

"Come back here you coward!" Maka growled, being stopped by a swordsman moan. Crona took one hand to hold his head, frowning. "Are you okay?"

"Dizzy..." Crona groaned, leaning slightly on the table for a better support.

"The next time you try to teach him manners, make sure you involve everyone and not just Maka" Marie scolded, shaking her head.

"Come on, Professor Marie. The day Ragnarok quits acting like Ragnarok, I think we'll have something to worry about," Liz smiled, trying to release the tension that the demonic sword had left behind. Patty laughed at the comment as she leaned back in her chair, finally being satisfied. Ragnarok couldn't stop being Ragnarok as much as Patty couldn't stop being Patty.

Everyone at the table had years of knowing Ragnarok to expect something different from him. But Maka couldn't help feeling uneasy... the demon had been about to say something important.

In front of the enormous dining room table, out of nowhere, an enormous mirror started descending catching everyone's attention. Usually the mansion was used also for the academy parties, which is why Kid maintained an enormous mirror that suited such purpose: a screen to give and receive important calls. After some static, from across the mirror somebody that nobody, except Kid, had waited for that night appeared.

"HELLO MY SUBJECTS!" A noisy voice resounded for all of the dining room, followed by a quite loud laughter "YOUR GREATEST GOD IS HERE!"

"Black Star," everyone greeted almost in unison with a tone of defeat. It was not as if they didn't miss the blue hyperactive monkey, but his capacity to be... Utterly hateful, was amazing.

Black Star, through the screen, looked around looking for something. Having the feeling what it was, Maka raised her hand with a sigh.

"Ahaa! There you are, Maka! I knew that you would feel shattered without my absence, But no God forgets his subordinates!" Black Star barked while inflating his chest proudly.

"I was passing out with grief" she sighed, noticing as the young bushin hadn't changed at all. His arm had healed perfectly and, from the fight of the Kishin, he kept as souvenir two scars in his face. With already 26 years old and molded by several fights, Black Star looked mature and extremely manly... As long as he didn't open his enormous loudmouth.

"How is everything in Japan?" Kid asked with half a smile. Although hateful, Black Star was one of the few humans that he could call his friend.

"Excellent! No kishing egg will touch a single human soul as long as I, the invincible Black Star, be watching" The blue-haired ninja boasted, laughing strepitously. In relation to his words ... Black Star wasn't kidding, because Japan was one of the most safe countries and with less incidents of murders related to Kishin eggs.

"I heard that you are the combat instructor there" Ox wanted to confirm while he was looking at the screen attentively. Black Star found himself almost stuck to the mirror, but Ox could notice a little bit of movement behind him.

"That's right! This God has set to teach the implacable art of combat to the simple mortals!"

"Wow... Somebody began to read the dictionary" Maka growled with a half burlesque smile. Patty let off a strong loud laughter for the comment.

"Black Star studies, although you don't believe it" A sweet voice was heard behind Black Star. Moving aside, the ninja let everyone observe the woman behind him. It was tall and voluptuous with long black hair, and in her arms she was carrying a boy of approximately two years old. He had pitch black hair and the same tanned tone of skin than the bushin.

"T-tsubaki!" Maka exclaimed surprised. The impression, however, hadn't been just to see her old friend, but for noticing the boy that she was holding in her arms. Maka's face seemed contorted, making Tsubaki smile.

"Hello Maka, long time not seeing!... and yes, this is-"

"MY SON!" Black Star interrupted Tsubaki, taking the boy in his arms to almost push him against the mirror for everyone in the dinning table to see him "Maka look! You will never see a boy like this! He is your future God! Now kneel down and idolize him!"

Tsubaki and Black Star. Damn that didn't impress her at all, she had seen it coming from a mile away years ago... but she had never imagined the immature and noisy Black Star as a father. Fair enough, at the end Tsubaki had enough maturity for both.

She felt pity for the female ninja. Certainly it was like being a single mother with two children to take care of.

"Black Star, is his bedtime" Tsubaki reminded him with half a smile, observing the blue-haired male who was holding the boy up and down.

"Excuse me , I will go to tuck the little God to bed. Lord Death" Black Star said his good-bye, addressing to Kid with respect before retiring from the mirror.

"He's so big! Last time that I saw him, He was just a little package in your arms Tsubaki" Kim said with a smile, same smile that became a pout when she felt Ox's hand holding hers. The black-haired meister was seeing her with an enormous playful smile and a suggestive look. With a snort Kim pushed aside her hand from Ox.

"And I didn't hear about it!" Maka complained, looking at Tsubaki reproachfully.

"Sorry Maka, I wanted to tell you but you are hard to find" The female ninja sighed, keeping her eternal conciliatory smile.

"That's only natural, new generations replace the old ones" Stein said while turning off his cigarette, sticking his hand inside his jacket to get a new one. Marie looked at him reproachfully, taking his hand to prevent him from keep on smoking. It was an habit that she tried to take away by all means.

"Thats not impressive" Blair sighed while fidgeting with one of her purple locks of hair "Do you know what would be really impressive? That Liz finally get somebody"

Liz immediately began to choke with the wine she was drinking. Patty observed the scene with noisy loud laughters, while Kid sighed and gave light strokes on the back of the blonde to help her recover. Breathing deeply, Liz observed Blair with a blush.

"Hell not! I already was mother thanks a lot, I have too many responsibilities here to lose my time with such things" Liz growled, still blushing while tilting her head so she couldn't look at Blair, who was smiling malevolently. Liz always put Patty as an excuse, but the cat knew better... specially because Kid's hand hadn't left her back, slightly flushed.

They all laughed with Liz frustration, even Marie who, just like Blair, could see what for the eyes of a woman was very evident. Crona, meanwhile, fidgeted with the empty glass of wine between his fingers.

They said that that would be impressive. No, something really impressive -and imposible- would be that he got somebody... And for some reason, felt that Meena didn't count. Ragnarok was right, no matter how much he tried, he felt nothing for her. He couldn't feel nothing for her, neither for anybody else... His heart had been ripped off a long time ago.

Maka averted her attention from the mirror to see Crona, noticing rapidly that dark and melancholic look in his eyes. Smoothly, the meister laid down her hand over the one of the swordsman at the table, making him jump on his seat.

"Are you alright?" Maka asked with a frown. Perhaps Ragnarok had overdone the wineglasses and now Crona felt sick... But for some reason something was telling her that it had nothing to do with that.

The swordsman's dark eyes went to observe that soft hand that surrounded his, feeling its warmth. Yeah, well... Crona already was somewhat drunk thanks to Ragnarok, but fortunately kept enough reason to realize that and keep quiet. What he couldn't stop was the impulse of holding Maka's hand against his own, caressing her with his thumb.

The blond meister took no time to answer the caress, holding Crona's hand firmly, worried for the expression that the pinkette had in his face. Perhaps it was the alcohol, but Maka could see a deep sadness in those black eyes... a sadness that she hadn't seen in a while, a long time ago.

Tose were the eyes that he used to have when he was under the orders of Medusa. It was, simply, a fraught look of despair and sadness.

"Hello Crona!" Tsubaki's voice startled both meister, making them untangle their hands. The swordsman attention drew to the mirror, forcing a light smile while he lifted his hand to say hello to the black-haired ninja.

"h-hello Tsubaki..."

"New look uh? Really cool" A very familiar voice resounded from across the mirror, making everyonr to open their eyes widely in surprise, leaning on their chairs to have a better look.

Maka became tense, getting stiff like board. Both of her hands went below the tablecloth, clenching her skirt. That voice was unmistakable...

"SOUL!" Blair cried with joy, jumping out of her chair to come as closer as she could to the mirror. Tsubaki laughed lightly before moving aside, revealing Soul in a simple red T shirt and some sports black pants.

With his typical calm look and a wide toothy grin, Soul took one of his hands out of his pockets to greet everyone.

Liz and Patty, who used to see him constantly thanks to Kid using the mirror, only smiled and said hello back. Kim, who never had been really close to Soul, only smiled. Ox said hello the same way than the Thompson sisters, and Blair kept on jumping from one side to the other trying to call the albino's attention.

Crona, for his part, did the best he could to hold back his pessimistic feelings and greet the albino with his hand up high. The emotions inside him were many, between the joy of seeing a friend after five years, and the... Bitterness of seeing the one who, in his opinion, had snatched from him the most valuable and important being in his life. Maka, for her part, stared upon the mirror with an indecipherable expression.

"I like that long hair, you must have hundreds of girls dying for you" Soul joked, smiling enormously seeing how the swordsman lowered his head in embarrasment, instinctively taking a hand to twist lightly one of the long pink locks of hair that were falling on his shoulders.

"SOUUULLL!" Blair panted suggestively, scratching the enormous mirror while moving her rear end from one side to the other. The albino finally noticed the cat, blushing furiously due to the proximity of Blair goodies against the mirror.

"hello Blair..." Soul sighed, taking a hand to his nose to make sure that he hadn't begun to bleed.

"Blair has missed Sooouuuul so muuuuch!" Blair purred while scratching the enormous mirror playfully.

"What are you doing there, Soul?" Maka asked in way a little too rude, more than how she really wanted to sound.

"Woah, I'm happy to see you too, Maka" Soul sighed, his smile attenuating "I got called to give a week-long course in Japan, so I decided to visit Black Star on the way there"

"You sound busy" Kid emphasized while looking at the weapon up and down. Every Death Scythe were always very busy people. They weren't many, so they had to split for the whole wide world to capacitate other students.

"SOUUUUULLLL!" Blair continued whimpering suggestively. Soon the albino had to hold his nose to avoid a hemorrhage, making everyone laugh.

"YOOOO!" Black Star greeted again, surrounding Soul's neck with his right arm energetically "We recieved Kid's letter a couple of days ago, when Soul arrived we wanted to see if we could catch Maka. I was absolutely right!"

"Uh... it was Tsubaki's idea..." Soul reminded him, still trapped under the grasp of the ninja.

"Soul... And who do you think is the divine inspiration of Tsubaki?..."

"Ahm..."

"ME! The invincible Black Star!" The blue-haired roared, releasing Soul so he could flex his muscular body. With the benefits of the age, Black Star's body had attained the maturity enough to look incredibly toned up. The little white T-shirt and the Bermuda shorts that he was using highlighted his physique even more.

"Y-you haven't changed" Crona spoke to call the attention of the blue monkey. Black Star turned over to see where the shy voice had come from.

"Ey Crona! The best boxing sack in the world!" Black Star burst out laughing. Maka frowned, feeling that comment as an offense to Crona. She was about to get up to defend the pinkette when his friend's voice stopped her.

"U-uh? I-Im sorry, I didn't hear you. The tickles that your blows give me distracted me"

"Ooohhh boom!" Black Starlaughed as noisily as he could, joined by all the presents.

"Very cool" Soul smiled, giving his thumb up to Crona, who lowered down his gaze to hide a very light smile.

"Ey broski, how is Mifune doing?" Black Star asked, bending over a little more in the mirror to observe Crona.

"I-I believe that today he'll came back from the course in South America..." Crona remembered. Black Star and him had been training companions since the defeat of the Kishin. Mifune was an expert on fencing and, after listening about the sad childhood of the pink-haired swordsman, he took Crona under his wing.

From training him daily next to Black Star to have him over for dinner and hanging out with Angela and him, Mifune had a lot of affection for the young meister. Due to Crona's shy nature and his perpetual thirst for affection and attention, the swordsmaster became attached to the point of almost adopting him. It didn't help in nothing that Angela developed a liking for him beyond brotherhood. Fortunately, Crona already had been taken by Marie.

It had been that affection, that attention of the people around him, what had saved Crona from falling prey to his madness after Maka left.

Perhaps Crona could never cope with Black Star's energy, neither with his joy and vitality, but he always tried. The ninja was an incredible human being, a good person determinared to follow the path of the sword, the path of rectitude. Black Star was really an example to follow, a man that had been on the road of the Kishin and got able to leave all by himself. Crona admired him and, the fact that he addressed him as a brother, remembered him that he had to act in such a way that he could deserve that title.

Even if at the end everything were pointless without Maka.

"Right Crona, you were away on a trip, No? We haven't heard about you in years!" Soul reprehended him all of a sudden, crossing his arms to face the pinkette severely.

Maka raised her head, looking at the mirror with her green eyes opened enormously. Would Soul mean about...?

"U-uh?" Crona asked with confusion in his face.

"No letters, neither a call, Maka tried to contact you with Kid and nothing. So uncool"

Yep, he did it. The Dice had been rolled, and more than one turned over to see Crona and Maka. Stein knew that, thanks to what Marie got to tell him, Crona had lost touch with Maka. Kim knew from Crona that Maka never answered his mail. Liz and Patty knew, by hunch, that Maka and Crona would never lose contact for no reason, and that Meena had something to do with that. Ox knew only the fears that Kim shared with him, including the suspicion that somebody had been blocking the mail of both of them. Marie knew that Maka had mysteriously disappeared from Crona's life, without explanation, and knew the whole pain that that had caused in the pink-haired meister... Also she knew that that couldn't be deliberated, by no means, and that she didn't like Meena at all. Kid knew absolutely nothing, Blair and Ragnarok knew everything.

It's appropriate to say, that the environment in the dinner table became tense like a cord about to snap.

"Ah... Ah..." Crona stuttered, shaking lightly under the look of everyone around him. Why did Soul say that? Not keeping in touch? But... but he...

Had Maka hidden her letters to Soul?... Perhaps ... Perhaps the letters never arrived?... Did Maka try to get in touch with him?...

It would be possible ... Would it be possible that her haven't really forgotten him?...

"RAAAAAWWWWWRRR!" Ragnarok roared as loud as he could, getting out of Crona's insides again to lean on his head and stare at Soul, speaking with a frankly drunk voice "I will not let you talk like that to this imbecile!"

"Look who's talking, midget" Soul growled back, showing the weapon his shark-like teeth with a snarl.

"perhaps your fat fatty cow hid the letters from you, Hmmmmmm? She writes things that she doesn't want you to knooooow! MOOOOoooooo!"

Soul frowned, staring at Ragnarok with half-closed eyes, remaining silent. It wouldn't be the first time for Soul that Maka hides things from him. Maka for her part directed a look charged with anger towards Ragnarok, not even doubting an instant in taking out her book, ready to give a violent Maka Chop in the head of the weapon. However, she had no time to touch the little rat, because Crona was already almost strangling his companion.

"What I said about you putting names to Maka? What did I tell you?" Crona growled under his breath, stretching Ragnarok's body so he could shake him in front of him, not caring about the pain that it caused in his own back. Both of his hands were closed around the neck of his companion, using his black blood to harden his grasp. The little demon began to throw punches trying get Crona off him, unable to say anything due to the hands squeezing his throat.

"Good Crona! Teach him who is in charge!" Black Star roared from the other side of the mirror, moving Soul over to observe his friend shaking the little demon as if he were a rag.

Blair didn't take long in joining Black Star, both of them cheering the swordsman who was shaking his companion vigorously. Kim followed the example and, before Marie, Stein or Kid saw it coming, the table had become a full ring of cheerleaders shouting for Crona.

The shouts and the struggling got interrupted abruptly when they listened to a couple of knocks at the door. Promptly, the door opened to show a female employee of the mansion, accompanied by a tall man of light blond hair and a little boy with golden hair of around eight years old.

"Excuse me, Lord Death" the female employee talked, calling the attention of the presents making Crona and Ragnarok to stop fighting "Swordmaster Mifune is here"

"Mifune!" Black Star shouted with an enormous smile, greeting his old teacher and friend.

The swordmaster smiled, holding between his lips a straw. With a backpack on his shoulder, it was clear that the blond had just came back from a journey. Kid smiled, getting up from his seat to welcome his employee.

"Good job Mifune, I received excellent observations of you" Kid smiled, getting close to the swordsman who simply nodded, extending his hand to shake the one of Lord Death as a greeting.

They all were so focused on the scene, that nobody noticed the little boy that tip-toed silently across the room to get to Crona's place. There, without any warning, he jumped straight on the unprepared pinkette.

"CRONAAA!" The little blond boy shouted, clinging to the swordsman's thin body, laughing. Maka moved aside, recognizing immediately that little boy of shiny golden hair and amber eyes.

"Victor!" Crona exclaimed, ignoring Ragnarok completely to take the boy in his arms, giving him an effusive hug. Seating him in his lap, Crona did something that made Maka's heart to shrink in an almost overwhelming feeling.

Crona smiled. It was an authentic big and pure, fraught smile of true happiness. It wasn't just one of his simple shy smiles, neither a wooble one... It was a true smile. A smile that, before, only she could take off him. It was a smile that, since her return, she hadn't been able to provoke.

Maka felt great joy when seeing him smile like that, and at the same time that she felt a deep sadness ... because that smile wasn't adressed to her, like it used to be. Maka wasn't the one who was making him smile like that.

Could Meena make him smile like that?...

"What are you doing here so late, Victor?" The Professor Stein asked staring at the little blond boy, who turned over observing the doctor and his wife. Giggling, Victor clung to Crona.

"But it's not so late!" The boy complained, snuggling against the pink-haired swordsman who held a smile.

"Victor Franken Stein..." Marie called him with a frown, looking at him fixedly.

"there it goes, my full name..." The little eight year old boy sighed, yet still refusing to leave Crona's lap " But mooooom! I can never be with Crona!"

"M-Marie is right, you should be in bed..." The pink-haired sword meister reminded him while combing some of his rebel blonde locks of hair with his fingers. Victor had the same type of hair as Stein, stirred everywhere, but shiny and silky like the one of his mother.

"Is not faaaair! It's been yeaaaarsss since you and me have had a sleepover together!"

"... The last one was three weeks ago" Crona reminded him, making little Victor to snort.

"Details details!" He growled, noticing the blond girl next to Crona who wasn't taking her sight off him "Uh... Ey! I know what! Come home to sleep today with me! We can watch horror movies and read scary stories and eat lots of candy and... and... We can play karaoke!"

"Candies?... Crona, we should go!" Ragnarok said all of the sudden, quite interested in the offer. Victor smiled mischievously.

"And I have some special ones for you, Ragnarok!"

"Reaaaaally?" The black bloob asked with a grin "Crona! Off to Screw-head's house!"

"You have school tomorrow" Marie reminded him, crossing her arms. The blond teacher knew perfectly that Crona would never deny anything to Victor, so she had to intervene.

"But mooooom! The school isn't useful at all! I want to be a sword meister just like my brother!" Victor vociferated, clinging to Crona tightly, hiding his little face in the chest of the swordsman.

"I-I thought you wanted to be a Mad Scientist just like the Professor..." Crona said with a light giggle.

"Ey, even a meister needs a good education to be the best" Maka said, smiling at the little one in Crona's arms.

Victor frowned, staring at Maka as if he tried to remember something.

"It is my fault that he is here, Profesor Stein" Mifune excused himself, getting closer to the table to greet the professors with an inclination of his head "I found him wandering outside the mansion, at this hour the streets are dangerous"

"Thank you for bringing him here Mifune, we appreciate that" Stein sighed, watching his little son who was rocking back and forth in Crona's arms.

"Crona" Mifune called the attention of the pinkette, who let Victor go rapidly to raise of his seat, trying to stagger as less as possible. Ragnarok fidgeted on his head, drunken and now dizzy thanks to the shake session that his meister had given him moments before.

"Y-yes, professor Mifune" Crona responded, expecting instructions from his teacher.

"Don't enjoy yourself too much, I want you to attend training first hour in the morning"

Crona sighed, relieved that it was only that. Agreeing, Crona took his seat again. No more drink for the night, the less he wanted was to help Mifune while suffering a hangover.

"Your little personal tick, Crona? Kim laughed, finding endearing the way that Victor didn't separate from the swordsman even if he was no longer on his lap.

Victor was the son of Marie and Stein. Born two years after the fight with the Kishin, the little boy didn't know about the incredible adventures of his parents beyond of what others would tell him. In relation to madness... he knew a lot, between his father and Crona it was difficult not to be face to face with it once in a while. Crona had been at his side all his life.

The swordsman never agreed to be legitimately adopted by Marie and Stein. He never mentioned it, but for Marie the reason was obvious: Crona refused to call her mother. It was not because the pinkette didn't like her, but because the word by itself, for him, had a very different meaning from everybody else. For Marie, Maka and Victor, the word mother had a beautiful meaning that cannot be expressed with words.

For Crona, the only meaning that the word "mother" had, was Medusa. He would never be able to use that word with nobody else, because for Crona that title had disappeared in his life along with her. However, for Crona a thing was obvious: If he could reborn, he would wish to do it being the legitimate child of Marie. Although that was, for him, a selfish idea... As long as he didn't make it public there wouldn't be any trouble.

When Victor was born, Crona had a sudden attack of jealousy in relation to him. In a start, he thought that Marie no longer would notice him now that she had a real son. He was wrong, because it hadn't passed a week right after Victor's birth when Marie involved Crona in his care. He learned, for Ragnarok's displeasure, to change diapers, to feed him, to read tales to him, to put him to sleep and even bath him. Marie told him all the time that he was his elder brother and that he should put an example for him. Crona had never before carried a baby, much less living together or playing with one. By the time Victor was one year old, both were like hand and glove.

With Maka's friendship, Stein and Marie's protection, the comradeship of Kid and the other ones, and Victor's affection, Crona was authentically happy.

Then Maka and Soul's wedding happened...

"You have grown a lot" Maka's voice drew Crona out of his thoughts, noticing the blonde smiling at Victor who tilted his head.

"Uh..." The little one stammered, looking at Maka from top to bottom, looking at her sitting next to Crona, and how Crona was looking at Maka with a special sparkle in his dark eyes. He was eight years old, but he knew how to add... sort of.

"You don't remember me, but I am-"

"You are Crona's new girlfriend!" Victor vociferated in all his innocence, making everyone to turn over at the table to see. Blair covered her mouth, trying not to laugh while the others didn't even made the effort.

Black Star burst out laughing through the mirror, and Soul could only smile amused. Even Liz couldn't help but letting off some little laughters noticing how Maka's face catched on fire like a Christmas tree. The only ones that weren't laughing were Marie and Stein, the last because he simply lacked sense of humor. Marie, for her part, didn't find anything funny in the subject...

Crona wasn't laughing either.

"Woaaah! And you are like a miiiiillion times cuter than the last one!" Victor continued, making Maka to blush like a tomato "You are fine! Not like Meena, she was dreadful! But you are very pretty! And you are blond! I will have blond nephews! Although I want pink-haired nephews too"

By that moment, Black Star's legs had stopped supporting him, falling to the ground rolling with laughter and holding his stomach. Patty had been holding herself in the chair, laughing in the same way. Kim's eyes were about to drop tears of laughter and Ox wasn't in better conditions. Victor kept on talking and talking, while Maka felt her face melting in shame and Crona shook behind him, red like a tomato in season.

Kid couldn't avoid laughing a little, calming down as most as he could to address the attention of Mifune.

"Did Spirit inform yo that we would be here?" Kid asked the swordmaster, distracting him of what certainly was, for him, a frankly adorable scene.

"Spirit? No, I went to the Death Room but there was nobody, so I came here" Mifune responded without giving him a lot of importance. That was why he failed to understand why Kid's face suddenly turned pale.

".. There was... nobody there?" Kid repeated with cold sweat runninf down his back.

Meanwhile, Victor kept on babbling the most shameful things that anyone could tell about a couple of very close friends. It was so bad that Soul stopped smiling, address Victor with an annoyed growl.

"Ey, she is my wife" Soul emphasized, crossing his arms in his chest through the mirror.

"I don't think so! If she is your wife, why aren't you here with her?" Victor said with a very firm voice for his age, demonstrating that he was Marie Mjolnir's worthy son. "I know that himself! Dad and Mom never separate, and even when dad wants to be alone, mom doesn't leave him. And if you are there and she is here, you cannot be her husband!"

Stein stood there in silence, observing his little son fixedly. It always impressed him the sincerity and innocence of a child and how they could say so many truths. What was even more impressive, was that an eight year old boy had left Soul speechless. The albino tried to explain, but soon he realized that he didn't have any arguments. Maka, for her part, limited herself to sigh before touching Victor's shoulder to call his attention.

"Ey Vic, he is Soul Eater, he is my husband. I am Maka Albarn" The blonde tried to explain to him, being as patient as she could. Her face was still blushing pretty badly.

"Maka... Albarn?" Victor repeated, staring at the green-eyed blonde in front of him. Skeptical, he turned over to see Crona who now was looking the other way, immersed in his thoughts. Maka Albarn... that name was familiar... Maka Albarn, Maka... Maka.

"Aaaaaaah!" The boy exclaimed, jumping far from Maka's grasp to point at her accusingly with his little finger. "Maka! Crona's Maka? Yes you are! You are that Maka!"

"Eeh.. Yes, yes ... I am that one" Maka smiled while a drop of sweat was falling down her head. What she didn't expect was that the innocent face of Victor changed suddenly for an annoyed one. It was a facial expression identical to the one of Stein during a madness attack.

"Witch!" Victor vociferated, still pointing at Maka.

"Eh?"

" Victor Franken Stein!" Marie scolded him, looking at her son threateningly. For Victor it was personal now... It was about Crona.

"You abandoned my brother! You stopped writing him for years! You were his entire world and you abandoned him!" Victor vociferated, really angry "You... you made my brother cry! And even worse! He never stopped sending out his little letters to you, every week he sent his letters and you never answered him!"

"Enough" Stein's stern voice resonated in the dinning, silencing Victor completely. The little boy had much more to say, but when his father gave an order, he had to obey.

Maka was frozen. Crona... Did Crona write to her? But, the letters ... she received nothing. Week after week ... but, but she had written too... What the heck?

"Victor" Stein called him with the same quiet voice of always, while his amber eyes were looking at the little boy fixedly. "Get out of here, we will go home together later"

Muttering, Stein's and Marie's little son left the enormous dining room.

"Crona..." Maka addressed herself to the sword meister, who found himseld sitting next to her with his head bowed, his face hidden under the long pink hair locks "... You kept writing me the last three years?"

To the question, the swordsman raised his head, shocked. Perhaps... she didn't know? If she didn't know, then the letters never arrived, then... everything was a misunderstanding, perhaps then... Maka really never ignored him... Maka never forgot about him.

Ragnarok fidgeted from the top of Crona's head, frowning before getting back inside of his meister. As soon as he entered, the swordsman felt a sudden dizziness followed by some sort of lethargy. Dizziness almost knocked him down of his chair, supporting himself by the back with great difficulty.

"Crona?" Kim called him with a frown, noticing the enormous blush in his face and his half-closed eyes.

"W-woaah... Everything is ... Spiiinning..." Crona talked in a slur, starting to let out small laughters. Maka hastened to support him, embracing him for his torso to keep him stable in his place.

"But... But you were just fine a moment ago" Maka said, worried to see his friend frankly intoxicated.

"It seems to be that Ragnarok stopped cooperating with him and the whole alcohol he drank got released into his organism" Stein sighed, shaking his head. That explained a lot of things... a lot.

"Hahaha, I didn't think that I would live to see the day in which you were drunk" Soul joked, trying to free the tension of the moment. He hadn't escaped from the conversation of moments before... it looked like the things between Crona and Maka were complicated.

"Shhhhhh!" Crona growled with his forefinger against his own lips "you think that you aaaaare so cool Soul, soooo coooool"

"Uh?"

"But you dont even knoooow! You have no ideaaa!" Crona kept on talking, leaning on the table.

"Crona, you are drunk" Maka whispered in his ear, still with her arms around his chest. The pinkette turned over to see her, addressing a look that made the blonde to hold her breath . The swordsman's icy-blue eyes were seeing her with a mix of pain, sadness, and something more...

Something more than Maka didn't dare to name.

"Hell yeah Crona! You already are an adult! I am proud of you!" Black Star vociferated from the other side of the mirror, laughing next to Soul.

"Now we have to get him a girl and turn him into a man" Soul followed the game with a smile.

"Leave him alone Soul" Maka warned him with anger in her voice, looking at the albino with a frown.

"Hell Maka, it was just a joke, how uncool of you" Soul sighed crossing his arms.

Yes, yes, Maka knew that by heart. She was the uncool, the girl that wasn't sexy at all, the rude and nothing feminine nerd of Shibusen, the girl with the smaller breasts of the entire generation. Maka already knew all that repertoire ... damn, she had to hear it every day. Or at least the few days when she and Soul were together at home.

Before she could give voice to her thoughts, she was surprised by the hands of Crona clinging to her clothing. The pinkette was looking at her anxiously and, in spite of his drunkenness, he seemed to understand what Maka was thinking. Like in the old times, when only a look between them used to say more than a thousand words.

"MAKAAAAAAA!" A very well-known voice resounded in the whole mansion, and soon a couple of arms pushed Crona far from Maka, seizing the blonde in a strong hug "You are here! Papa will take care of you now!"

"GAH! Release me in this very instant!" Maka roared trying to get rid of Spirit's grasp, while Crona holded himself using the table as best as he could. Spirit's screams were like claws in a chalkboard for Crona's intoxicated head, making him feel like his brains were about to explode.

"Shhhhhh!" Crona growled with a whine of pain, dropping his head on the table to support it between his hands. Even he had forgotten what they were talking a while ago.

"Spirit!" Kid called the redhead, pale like paper "Who remained in the Death Room?"

"As I said, it was empty when I got there five minutes ago" Mifune sighed, looking at Spirit like if he were a lost cause. And he probably was.

"I am sorry Lord Death, I couldn't stay there knowing that my daughter was here without her papa" Spirit whimpered, holding Maka hard against his chest. "My Maka never sent me a single letter in all these five years! Neither a call! Papa was so worried!"

"Get... Off... Me..." Maka growled, quickly losing her patience while struggling with her father's arms.

"Spirit, if you appreciate what remains of your relationship with your daughter, you should release her" Stein sighed, noticing how the blonde meister was about to take out her book and give the redhead a savage Maka Chop.

It was there when a couple of steps were heard in the room, and soon one singular figure stopped in the middle the table in front of everyone.

"What a sprightly and juvenile multitude we have here!" The little being, that seemed to be some kind of dog, exclaimed "It reminds me about that epoch of my own youth when I was a renegade. Yes, It was a hot summer afternoon when I was hanging out with my gang of thugs on the streets, although now that I consider it, it was at night. Yes, it was in a night of hot summer, although it could be a cold winter, although perhaps I remember it cold because of the cold that was in my soul. A cup of tea can relieve any cold from within! Would you like to hear my history?"

"EXCALIBUUUUURRRRR!" Black Star and Kid roared in sheer horror.

"Turn it off Soul! Turn it off!" Black Star panted with his face twisted in a grimace, as if he had got his face scrubbed in horse excrement.

"Sorry Lord Death, we have to leave!" Soul excused himself rapidly, breaking the mirror communication

"BLACK STAAAAR! SOOOUL! Don't let me die by myself!" Kid shouted, pulling his black hair with despair, while Excalibur's voice kept on rattling on and on.

"Aaaaaah! I'll kill him!" Patty roared with rage in her eyes with a fork in her hands.

"Who the hell allowed him to get out?" Liz could only hold her head with one hand, feeling a strong migraine coming.

"Excalibur, Shouldn't you be in the Death Room keeping watch that Lord Death does not miss any calls?" Marie sighed, exasperated.

"FOOL!" Excalibur shouted, aiming at Marie with his walking cane "Any small child knows that the unanswered calls go immediately to the following active mirror, what remembers me that time of my life when I was a little boy. My games consisted in running along the grasslands helping the abandoned and the undefended, but never before taking my noon tea. It is very important to begin the day with a cup of tea, but never before saying hello to the sunlight and shouting with joy. Joy is what moves the world and creates the true anecdotes of history. Would you like to hear my history?"

"NO!" Everyone shouted in chorus, really exasperated.

" Shhhhhhhhhh!" Crona complained, beginning to hit his head against the table, pulling his own hair.

"FOOLS! Who does not know his history doesn't have a future. History is written with the blood of the fallen and the handwrite of the conquerors. My history begins at the begining the century..."

For that moment, Kid almost was strangling Spirit, who should have stayed in the Death Room to keep Excalibur from getting out of there. Kim made use of all her self-control not to incinerate the hateful weapon while Ox tried to comfort her in spite of his own headache. Patty was almost on the table with knife and fork in hand, trying to reach for Excalibur. Liz limited herself to hold Patty back. Blair had charmed his own ears so she couldn't listen to anything, sitting calmly in a pumpkin reading a magazine. Marie was massaging her temple while Stein smoked a cigarette almost vehemently. Mifune had left almost as soon as Excalibur appeared.

During the riot, no one of the presents noticed when Maka pulled Crona by his arm, leaving the mansion with him.

* * *

In the streets of Death City there was two figures walking side by side: a male walking a little bit unsteady while the female supported him once in a while. Maka guided Crona in the dark of the city, a perpetual darkness that was illuminated only by the street lamps and the stars. The moon was almost invisible in the darkness of the sky, covered by a dense coat of black blood... the Kishin's blood, which now worked as new seal, just like his own skin used to centuries ago.

There had passed over 10 years since that fight. In the fight against the Kishin, when they realized that they couldn't defeat him, they turned to the Brew to try what Lord Death had done the first time: To seal Asura. Wounding him enough, they turned his blood into his new prison, a prison which all waited he couldn't escape again. The new black moon was the monument to that battle that determined the destiny of the earth. For Maka, it was a memory of all the effort, the blood and the combat shoulder to shoulder with her friends. Also, it was a constant memory of Crona, who had made possible the Kishin's enprisonment.

They all recognized Maka Albarn like the meister who, using the Death Scythe Soul Eater, defeated Asura with a simple cut of her scythe. Nobody in the world recognized the young man that had conceived the whole plan. Even at the expense of his own life and with a deadly fresh wound on his stomach, he used the Brew. That recognition only existed in Shibusen, for the few that knew the truth and for the even fewer who had been there.

Seeing that black moon always reminded her about that young unappreciated man that gave everything of himself and more. He was a person that would do things, not in order to receive a recognition, but just because they had to been done. Oblivious of the natural order of the world and its laws, Crona only do what dictated him his heart. Sure, as long as the madness inside of him didn't take over...

That was the main reason of why Maka Albarn, well-known to be very closed, antisocial and short of patience, was helping that pink-haired man to walk on the streets of Shibusen. On behalf of the bond they used to share, of their friendship that was as strong as their soul resonance, of the unconditional affection that they felt for each other, she was helping one very intoxicated Crona to get to his apartment,

"Im so sssooorrrry Maka, Ragnarok is a big fat butt..." Crona stammered, trying to speak as correctly as possible. Usually the little demon waited until Crona get to his apartment or to the closest secure place before releasinf the alcohol in his bloodstream. This time, on the contrary, he had done it deliberately and all at once, incapacitating the swordsman for the rest of the night.

"I'll make him pay tomorrow... Do you hear me Ragnarok?" Maka growled, supporting Crona by his waist while the pink-haired leaned lightly on her with his arm around Maka's shoulders.

For Crona, the floor was moving as if he were standing on a ship beaten by huge waves. It was like walking on a very unstable bridge and, between that and the constant dizziness, the swordsman kept on cursing his companion internally.

"We are almost there, when we get there you will be able to rest in your new mattress" Maka smiled trying to encourage him, feeling his pessimism thanks to the short distance between them. Being drunk, the swordsman didn't have a good control of his soul wavelength, allowing Maka to catch small pieces of his soul. Of course, as long as Crona didn't open himself for her, it would be impossible for Maka to get into his soul, but at least she could perceive him. It felt like a soft caress in a strong pinch.

"No not not not not nooooo" Crona shook his head, stopping in the middle of the street to turn to Maka, holding her by her shoulders suddenly. Lifting his hands, Crona took the blonde's face, touching her cheeks softly with his thumbs.

"Crona?" Maka whispered, her cheeks blushing lightly because of the proximity of the swordsman. Usually she detested when men, or anybody in general, drank to the point of drunkenness. She considered it a horrible vice and in fact she repudiated it. When Soul had arrived drunk right after a mission, Maka had obliged him to sleep outside as a punishment. She simply detested it... perhaps because she remembered those times when Spirit arrived home completely wasted and smelling like cheap perfume.

But with Crona... it was different. In addition to know that it hadn't been the swordsman's fault, he behaved very different to everybody else... sometimes she could even see traces of his personality that, in any other way, she would have never known that Crona had.

"Maka ..." Crona whispered, swallowing forcefully trying to talk "Im not letting you ssssleep in my bed, no... I cant allow my sssweet mmmaka to sleep in such a place..."

Crona was talking with all the seriousness he could, his strong hands touching her cheeks as softly as possible. Maka could feel the rugosity of his hands, lifelong product of supporting a hilt, as well as his warmth. When taking Crona's hands between hers, she could also feel the contrast between his palms and the back of his hand, which was surprisingly soft.

"It doesnt bothers me"

"It bothers me" The swordsman growled, getting closer to hold Maka in his arms, clasping her to his chest. Inhibited by the alcohol, Crona not even shook with the contact. "I may not see you again... I want... I want to give you everything as long as I can... I want to make you happy"

Maka listened to his words while keeping her face hidden in his chest, both of her hands still helping Crona with his equilibrium. She didn't answer to his words, standing in silence between his arms.

"I cant stand seeing you sad... and not knowing why... I dont want you to be sad... I want you to be happy, I cant stand seeing my angel sad. I want to hear... your laugh... And see your smile... Seeing your beautiful eyes shine..." Crona whispered while holding Maka even more tightly, feeling at the same time as the blonde surrounded his waist with her arms, almost clinging on him grabbing fistfuls of his clothing.

Maka supported herself on him in silence, her face hidden in his chest, her arms clinging to Crona who rocked lightly due to his dizziness. The right hand of the swordsman rested on Maka's waist while the right was rising to caress her blond hair. They remained that way a long while, in silence, static between the streets of Death City.

After some minutes passed, Maka finally separated from Crona. In her green eyes was a whirlwind of emotions, being excitement and sadness the more predominant. Her cheeks were blushing and in them there was what seemed to be a tear's trail. Crona's chest was wet, and the face of the pink-haired man was filled with an expression of immense longing.

"Lets go, the apartment is not too far away..." Maka called him, smiling while taking his hand, intertwining her fingers with his own. A little more sober, Crona tried to walk, making one step after the other, trying to stagger as less as possible.

The walk to the apartment was slow and in silence. They didnt need to talk, the only thing that they needed was to keep their hands interlaced, feeling the proximity of each other. Crona was still pretty drunk, but tried his best to keep Maka's pace as decorously as he could. Maka for her part kept thinking on what had happened during dinner.

His letters didn't arrive... Crona had been writing, but for three years the mail between them disappeared. But, it just didn't make any sense... Didn't Kid assure her that he had delivered the letters personally?...

Had he delivered them to Crona right into his hands? Or perhaps...

"Your keys" Maka said to the swordsman once both had gotten to the apartment. With a whine, Crona began to rummage his pockets awkwardly, taking a moment to find the keys stored in the internal pocket of his black gabardine.

Taking his keys away, the blonde sighed before opening the door. She had had enough for a day, the only thing that she wanted was to tuck Crona to bed and go to rest. Entering both to the apartment, Maka supported the pink-haired man one more time to guide him to his room.

"Tomorrow Ragnarok will wish he'd never been born" The blonde growled in a low voice, helping the swordsman who felt as if he was receiving even more alcohol right into his bloodstream. It seemed as if Ragnarok wanted to knock him out.

"Ugghhu..." Crona complained, holding tight on Maka to get to his room.

Neither of them counted on a figure blockading their way, looking at both severely and with a pronounced frown.

"Missing all day long! Where have you been?" Meena vociferated, looking at the swordsman who took both hands to his own ears to block the sound.

"Sssshhhhhh!" Crona hissed, trying to silence the young brunette.

"Dont you dare to hush me!" Meena shouted, this time a lot louder in order to bother the pinkette.

"You shut your mouth, damn witch, and get off the way" Maka growled, supporting the swordsman tightly who began to breathe agitatedly.

"Excuse me?" Meena talked with arrogance in her voice, smiling almost wickedly while she walked closer to Maka, standing face to face with her. "Maka Albarn... You may be a legend, but in this house you are a guest and I live here"

Maka could feel her blood boil while looking at the girl of brown hair in front of her. She was... She was... She had never before felt such urge to evicerate someone since Medusa.

"move out of the way..." Maka growled with an extremely threatening tone in her voice, making Meena to arch an eyebrow.

"Get out of my house" Meena responded, still holding that enormous mocking smile "you think you are the biggest woman in town, isnt it? You think that you can do your will as you please and stick your nose in everyone's lifes?"

The young brunette was advancing with her arms crossed in her chesr, while Maka stood her ground in her place, supporting a Crona who said absolutely nothing. When they were close enough, the environment between both felt like two storms about to crash.

"I've been tolerant with you leading Crona wherever you want, now I want him back, and you are going to give him to me"

"Crona is not an object for you to talk about him like that" Maka hissed, her face blushing with anger. If the blonde didn't have her hands busy holding the swordsman, she would already have taken out her book and beaten Meena into a full coma.

"He is mine, now leave before I-"

Meena couldn't continue, because suddenly a couple of powerful hands took her by the lapels, holding her with such a force that the face of the girl filled with fear. In front of her was Crona, stainding between her and Maka, his grasp being such that almost picked her up from the floor.

"C-Crona..."

"do not speak to Maka like that..." Crona growled. His cold blue eyes looked at her with a determination fed by alcohol. His grasp was powerful, his fists hard as lead and his thin arms weren't shaking not even for instant in spite of almost being carrying the girl. The pupils contracted of the swordsman and those fixed blue eyes managed to chill Meena's blood.

"C-Crona... Are you on her side? I haven't seen you all day long and you-"

'I can't deal with you right now" he warned her, making Meena to hold her tongue "Don't make me deal with you"

Meena understood the message immediately. She knew that she shouldn't confront the swordsman while he was in such a state. Deviating his look, the pinkette understood that it was the closest thing he would obtain as a nod, releasing her slowly to deposit her again in the floor.

"I'm sorry" Were Crona's only words, who looked down again, taking Maka's hand and guiding her to her room, where the mattress that they had bought in the afternoon was.

Maka, instead, made good use of Crona's grasp to guide him to his own room, pushing him inside and locking herself up with him, leaving Meena alone in the living room.

"M-Maka?" Crona asked, clinging to the closer wall to support himself. The dizziness was getting worse and worse, and now he even felt a terrible desire to puke.

"I swear to you Crona, I'm going to kill her!" Maka almost shouted, filled with frustration. The pinkette complained with the shout, crawling to his bed to sit there. For some reason he felt as if he were close to faint.

Maka noticed the change in his state, frowning anxiously. Heaving a sigh, she decided to calm down and to take a seat in bed at his side. Lifting her hand, the blonde began to caress his back softly, making the swordsman sigh.

"D-don't kill her..." Crona whispered lowering his gaze, his long pink hair locks covering his face "I know that she is mean but... She's the only company I have"

"What are you talking about Crona? Of course she is not! You have Blair! What about Marie and the professor Stein? And Victor? Kim, Kid, Liz, Patty... Even Mifune and Angela..." Maka talked with a deep frown on her face. She couldn't believe what she was listening. How could Crona feel lonely when he had so many people that worried about him?

"you wouldn't understand..." Crona sighed, his eyes filling with a deep sadness. It was a stare of complete despair, a look that made the Maka's stomach twist. She knew that look... It was the look that he had when she met him for the first time, that sad disconsolated look of the abandoned child in a waterless sea.

" ...you are not alone, Crona..." Maka talked, coming closer to the swordsman to try to surround him with her arms.

" if she wasn't here... Who would?"

" ... The hell you are talking about? I am with you!"

"you will leave..." Crona affirmed while his blue eyes turned over to see her. It wasn't a question, it was an affirmation, an affirmation that she could not argue with. "If she weren't here, I would be alone... they all have their lives, Kim and Ox, Marie and the Professor... Liz and Kid..."

"... Crona, that one is not reason to bear her" Maka whispered, turning Crona by his shoulders so she could see him eye to eye. The swordsman kept on talking with a frankly drunk voice, but did a superhuman effort to talk correctly. At least his stutter had disappeared. "Would you eat a maggoty apple just because it is the last? Being alone is better than being with someone like-"

"Whoever said that didn't know loneliness!" Crona shouted, his fists clenching the bedspread tightly. Maka held her tongue, staring at the swordsman with concerned eyes. "Is it better to be alone? Really? the one that said that had the slightest idea of what it is arriving to an empty house every day? Did he know how silence amplifies the noise of your thoughts? Did he know what it is to have nothing and nobody but your memories?... And the apple would be eaten by anyone that knows the true meaning of hunger..."

Maka was in complete silence, shocked, trying to understand the true significance of all his words. However, Crona didn't give her time for thar, because he began to sob in her arms.

" I don't want to be alone... I want to walk in this cruel world with somebody at my side... I want this solitude to disappear... I want these memories to leave me alone..." Crona panted, shaking, his voice breaking more and more wih each word. It was the alcohol, there was no doubt about it, It was the alcohol revealing one of the secrets that the swordsman hid deep within his soul, secrets that she couldn't feel, secrets that he was hiding from her "I want... I want somebody to love me..."

Maka swallowed hard, feeling as a knot took shape in her throat.

"but nobody can love me... How can somebody love this monster? How would anybody be able to at least contemplate that possibility? Because you are right Maka, nobody wants a maggoty apple... I am that apple Maka, I am..."

"Enough" Maka ordered him, shaking the swordsman by the shoulders. In her voice there was anger, but above all pain "What have I told you about talking like that about yourself?"

Crona didn't answer, keeping his glance low, not trying the slightest to look up and see the blonde in front of him. Crona's soul wavelength was sort of more perceptible now, perhaps for the strong intoxication, but Maka could feel it... And the only thing that she could felt was a deep and powerful solitude.

Maka embraced Crona tightly, clinging to his thin body feeling his shaking. The swordsman's hands didn't take too long before responding almost noticeably, feeling his hands to rest in the curve of her waist.

"How can you say that? How can you feel like this? You are my best friend Crona and I love you" Maka said while holding him tight. Usually, back in their youth, she could hold Crona fully, she would let him rest his forehead on her shoulder and hold him as close as possible. He was bigger and taller now, so she just clinged to him, still holding him as close as possible.

She felt Crona's gasp, his hands slowly starting to hold her with a stronger grip. His wavelength shifted slightly, she could feel his inner turmoil, his happiness... He liked the sound of that, he liked those words. And yet, along with that hapiness was an almost soffocating sadness. Why? Why would he feel so sad when her words made him happy? It made no sense.

If she could only resonate with him...

"Let me in..." Maka whispered in a soft tone, more like a request than an order.

" I can't..." Crona sighed with his voice breaking slightly, shutting his eyes tightly.

"Who did this to you?" The blonde asked, separating from him a little to face him. The Crona between her arms wasn't even the shadow of what they had achieved together. What had happened? What had provoked that the subjugated Crona of Medusa returned?

Maka tried to step back a little, but the swordsman's firm hands didn't allow it, pulling her closer.

"Don't leave..." Crona sobbed, his eyes still closed tightly, almost painfully. "Don't leave me... Don't Leave... I'll do whatever you want but please… please..."

It was there when a violent dizziness invaded the swordsman, who had to cling to Maka so he wouldn't fall off the bed. The blonde pushed his shoulders softly, helping Crona to lay down. For the swordsman's surprise, as soon as he was well-positioned, Maka laid down by his side, embracing him strongly.

"M-maka...?"

"I will stay with you" Maka whispered, clinging to his thin body "I will be here until you fall sleep"

"Maka..." Crona whispered, shaking lightly. Still with the brain drowned in alcohol, the swordsman could notice the whole picture... He was in bed with Maka. Unable to process that, he just surrendered to her warmth, allowing Maka to hold him against her own body. Surrounding her with his arms on her waist, Crona didn't even bother in worrying about how close he was to her.

Because he needed her. At that very moment, his aching soul needed her before anything else in the whole world. As intoxicated as he was, he couldn't fight his own desires anymore, and he just wanted to be with her. Maka, on the other hand, was pleased to feel him relax in her arms, pleased with his acceptance... Because Crona wasn't pushing her away.

"_You are not alone... for I am here with you_" Maka whispered softly againt his ear, one hand going up to caress his head. Her soft voice was a wonderful lullaby in Crona's head.

"Maka..." He sighed in contempt, holding her closer, burying his face in her shoulder. She was with him, at that very moment, he could tell that he had her.

"_Though you're far away, I am here to stay..._" As long as she could, Maka would try to stay with Crona. During those years not knowing anything about him... She had missed him so damn much. Now that he was in her arms, she just didn't want to let go. "_But you are not alone... for I am here with you. Though we're far apart, you're always in my heart..._"

"Maka..." Crona sighed while clinging hard to the blonde, not letting her go. If he could just tell her, if he could just open his soul to her and let her in...

Before being able to even think anything else, a new wave of alcohol in his blood knocked the lights out of him for the rest of the night.

* * *

It was midnight when Maka got out of Crona's room.

She was concerned, confused... and overall scared. Crona had a problem, it was an enormous problem that little by little was consuming his sanity... and the worst part was that she couldn't tell what it was.

Something was certain: Meena only was an escape for that problem. Crona was using her, perhaps as much as Meena was using him. He used her to fool himself, in order to get a false sensation of company, a placebo for his need of affection. For anybody else, that would have been perfectly alright. Like, what's the problem if both of them are using each other? If that worked for them, they could stay like that forever.

For Maka Albarn, that situation was completely outrageous. Crona was a marvelous loyal man to his friends and dedicated to his family. The best friend that anyone could ever ask for, comitted to his friends and compromised to anyine who believed in him. Crona deserved to have somebody who loved him, somebody that reminds him every day how unvaluable he was. He needed somebody to hold his hand every day and remind him that he wasn't alone. Was she the only one that could see all those qualities in him?

So sunken she was in her own thoughts that she didn't notice when a figure positioned in front of her. Before she could foresee it, a whip got tangled in Maka's neck, throwing her to the ground with a strong pull.

Alarmed, the blonde took both hands to her neck, trying to take off that whip that seemed to had life of its own, choking her slowly. Following the end of the whip, she opened her eyes wide when she noticed that that whip was an extension of Meena's arm, who was looking at her threateningly.

"Really, Maka, you don't want to provoke me" Meena smiled, squeezing Maka's neck while she squatted down in front of her. "Really... do you want to separate me from Crona? You can try it, but I don't assure you that I'll be the one losing at the end..."

"You are just using him... You feel nothing for him!" Maka roared, trying to open that whip that was almost soffocating her.

"Pfff... Of course I don't feel anything" Meena laughed evilishly "Who would feel anything for such an excuse of a man? No, is pure convenience. But... Who cares about that? Crona doesn't, he just wants someone to hold his hand once in a while and smile at him, it's a good deal don't you think?"

"You fucking bitch!" Maka growled out of breath, feeling how every intake of air was more difficult each time. Meena was asphyxiating her "If I just had Soul with me..."

"Exactly, Maka Albarn" Meena laughed, looking at the blonde with superiority "Without Soul Eater you are not anybody, and you know it. That is the only reason of why you did a friendship with Crona "

"what the hell are you talking about..."

"Really, Maka Albarn, who rescued a Soon-to-be Kishin of his own madness... I heard that Crona saved your ass in multiple occasions as well. You turned him into your little pet, didn't you? Obliging him to step in front of his own mother to die for you?..." Meena hissed with an almost poisonous smile in her face. Maka had stopped struggling. "So... Why don't you do us a favor and disappear from his life for good? I will take care of Crona"

"Crona is my best friend! I don't use him! He is very important to me!"

"I believe he thinks something different, really Maka... He is only being kind, Don't you remember that he stopped writing you? Not a single letter, Maka, that is exactly how much you mean to him" Meena talked with a giant-sized smile, her chocolate eyes looking at the blonde with sarcasm.

It was at that moment, when Maka understood everything. Her face turned pale for an instant before turning red with anger. Now everything made sense, it fitted perfectly.

"You did it..."

"Uh?" Meena growled, looking at her skepticly.

"You... You took Crona's letters!" Maka accused her, feeling a deep fury bubbling inside of her.

Meena was the culprit. She... she had somehow intercepted both her and Crona's mail, preventing them from keeping in touch. Because of her Maka had passed through so much solitude, not knowing anything about him. Because of her, Crona thought that she no longer cared about him. She was the culprit.

The brunette frowned, discreetly swallowing hard. Breathing deeply, she only smiled before releasing Maka from her grasp, turning the whip back into its human form. Maka breathed greedily, getting up a little bit unsteady from the ground to confront her.

"You can't deceive me! I see it in those deceptive eyes of yours!"

"Hmm... Big accusations for someone who does not have any proofs..." Meena smiled, crossing her arms on her chest "well then... Where are the letters, Maka Albarn? Can you prove that you wrote them? I can tell you that Crona didn't write anything to anyone"

"I will not listen to your lies! Of the only thing that I blame myself is to have doubted him for even a single moment, believing that he didn't write on purpose. I should have come back as soon as his letters stopped arriving" Maka growled, knowing perfectly that she was at fault of the terrible swamp in which Crona and her were. She never should have supposed that Crona refused to write her, she never should have doubted... How could he had doubt something like that?

If what the little Victor had said was true, Crona had wrote letters that never arrived, and at the same time never received hers. If that was true, for three years he thought that she had forgotten about him.

If that was the case, she couldn't blame him for having lost his resonance with her.

"take care of your business, Maka Albarn. Crona is no longer yours"

"Crona will be always my business" Maka responded, looking at the chocolate eyes of the brunette, threatening her. Behind the fierce interchange of looks, Maka left to her own room. She was not that stupid to try to fight against a weapon. She could be rude at the time of fighting, but he was still human.

But, tomorrow at first hour, she would go to Kid with Crona and unveil the whole truth. Crona would know what she had done... And maybe that way she would have her best friend again.

Meena for her part stayed in the corridor of the rooms, staring upon the door that led to the blonde's room. With a frown and a pout of repudiation on her lips, the brunette shook her head to address her attention to Crona's room. With a deep sigh, she entered the room where the swordsman was sleeping off his terrible intoxication.

Once inside, Meena closed the door smoothly to avoid any noise. In silence, she walked to Crona's bed, where she observed him sleep for an instant.

"Ragnarok..." Meena called, looking at the pinkette back attentively. She didn't wait long before the little demon got lazily out of his companion's back.

"Ughh..." Ragnarok complained, taking a moment to recover his physical shape on top of an unconscious Crona "What the hell do you want?"

"Where were you? Why you both arrive like this? And how did Maka found out about the letters!?" Meena growled, raising her voice more and more as she talked.

"Hold your tongue, you idiot! You'll wake up Crona!" Ragnarok hissed, shaking off his headache. He found himself dizzy, but because he had passed all of the alcohol he drank to Crona's body, he was in better shape than him "I had to knock him out with alcohol! I knew that everything would be discovered in the little party with his stupid friends, I needed an emergency plan!"

"Party?" Meena repeated, crossing her arms.

"The little God of Symmetry organized a welcome party for Maka, Who spent the whole frigging day with Crona, mind you!" The little demon roared under his breath, leaning over his meister to face the brunnete in front of him "Where were you!? The damage is unfixable! They hugged, they fidgeted with his damned hands, they did plans like a little couple of retarded retards! And at the end they found out about the letters!"

"How the hell did that happen? It was supposed that you were going to avoid that!"

"Fuck you! don't dare to question me!" Ragnarok raised his voice, frankly pissed off "Do you believe that I can do miracles or preventing others from opening their damned mouths? Luckily I probably wasted Crona so much that he won't remember anything"

Meena bit her lip and clenched her fists, swallowing her anger. She detested when Ragnarok put her names, but when it was the demonsword... She had to bear it.

"you should have told me where they would be..."

"And how the fuck I was supposed to do that, shithead? Walking out of Crona silently to inform you? It's bloody common sense! You should have never left Crona alone with that fat cow in the first place!"

" Ey ey ey I tried to separate them as soon as she arrived!" The brunette tried to defend herself, stepping forward to confront Ragnarok.

"and you tried to convince him... How? Being an utterly and allmighty bitch?" The sword mocked, being already almost half a meter away from Meena. "You cannot convince Crona of getting away from Maka that way! His mother tried... And where is she now!?"

Ragnarok's words were enough to make Meena to hold her tongue. The brunette's fixed eyes suggested the sword that finally she was listening to him.

"To control Crona, that works. All of his life he has been obeying orders, is very easy to manipulate him that way... but never when its about the cow" Ragnarok explained, lowering his voice "The way that the damned cow can give courage to this coward, or bring him to reason, or showing him the faults that he commits... Trying To make Crona say "no" to Maka is like trying to force him to get rid of a part of his soul"

Meena kept on staring at Ragnarok without saying a word, listening.

"he loves her, that is something than neither your or I will understand never. We are pitching against something we dont know, but of what I am sure its that you will never get him away from her behaving as you are doing it" Ragnarok growled, crossing his little arms in front of his chest.

" ... All right, all right..." Meena heaved a sigh, looking around to find something where to sit down. After noticing the old desk's chair, she took it from the back to accommodate it in front of the bed, taking seat close to Crona. " What you are asking me is...?

"only that you fulfill your part of the deal! Do you remember our deal?" The demon sword growled "The Only Thing that you care about is money, and I don't care about anything but me. I need Crona for that! I almost lose him because of the damned cow. The deal was that I would allow you to use Crona, if you made him forget about Maka"

"Do you think that that is easy, damn midget?" Meena roared, getting up brusquely of the chair, throwing it in the process. Crona growled while half asleep, moving lightly in bed.

"Low your damn voice!" The sword hissed, looking at his meister for an instant to make sure that he continued to be asleep. Meena took Ragnarok's hand, pulling it forcefully and obliging him to pay attention to her.

"How do you think I can conquer an idiot that cannot be even a man? I have tried, damn! Every single one of my innuendoes and flirtations are ignored! Crona's manliness is non-existant!" Meena roared, feeling as her face turned red of fury. It was the first time for her that a man didn't react to her charms, and for her that was an insult to her beauty.

"Ha! Do you believe that that works with him? If it worked, Blair already would have managed to fuck him years ago" Rangarok vociferated "his dick obeys the same laws than his courage: Non-existent unless Maka is near!"

"What the hell does that low-down bitch have that I don't?"

"Is not about what she has, idiot, Its about what she gives to him!" Ragnarok roared, very near already to lose his patience "You have to pretend that you love him!"

Meena held her tongue again, looking at the little demon fixedly.

"I don't know how you are going to do it, I am not interested either! But you have to make it happen!" The sword hissed, looking at the brunette fixedly with his unexpressive round eyes "The situation as it is in these moments is terrible. At this rate not even I will be able to convince him to remain at your side. If the cow tells him to leave you, He is going to do it! I can no longer act against her, so everything is on your hands now"

Meena remained in silence, as if she were considering the meaning of his words. After almost one minute in perpetual silence, the brunette snorted with annoyance.

"Too much work, I give up"

" ... What?"

"Too much work. I already have all of Crona's savings, enough to live well for a long time. I will draw the money from the bank and I'll ask my transfer with my meister to another place" Meena said with simplicity, stretching herself on the chair before smiling, standing up to leave the room "good luck with that, Ragnarok"

The brunette smiled victoriously, retreating. She was just by the door when an enormous hand took her by the head, yanking her hair. Meena screamed, but her scream was hushed up by another gloved hand that covered her mouth. That first hand managed to pick her up from the floor only by her hair, shaking her lightly provoking shouts from pain that were muffled by the second hand.

Over an unconscious Crona was found a giant-sized Ragnarok. With every minimal part of his body toned up, the black demon was looking at Meena with a facial expression of authentic repudiation. Impassible to the screams of agony of Meena, the demon sword kept on shaking her as if she was a rag. Tears began to fall off the eyes of the brunette, who lifted her hands to take Ragnarok's enormous ones and to try to avoid a bigger damage to her head.

"Funny, very funny you low-down bitch" The thick voice of the demon sword hissed, sounding scary and threatening enough to managed to chill the girl's blood. "for a moment I thought that you were for real, you know? For a moment I thought that you would really betray me"

"L-let me go..." Meena panted under Ragnarok's grasp, feeling as several locks of hair yielded due to the violent shakes, coming off by the roots. Blood threads began to drip from her forehead.

"Do you think that you can use us just like that, you little idiot?" Ragnarok roared below his breath, shaking her even more, ripping another scream of agony from her which drowned with his left hand. "Do you think that you can leave just like that? We made a deal and you are going to keep it, you will stay with Crona until I say so"

Meena shouted again, starting to become desperate for the indescribable pain in her head. Anguished, she turned her hands into whips, using them to give a lash in the Ragnarok's face. Seeing the blow coming, the demon hardened all of his body, making the whips completely ineffective. Meena shouted again, the pain in her hands forcing her to make them return to their original form. Her hands and arms found now reddened and inflamed. It had been like trying to give a slap to a solid brick wall.

"You are going to fulfill your part of the deal" Ragnarok growled, lifting Meena until she was at his eye level, blood threads dripping for her face. "Or... I will tell everything to Crona, the lost letters, the deceits, I will tell him about your little affair with your meister and as how you used him, I will tell him that you hit Maka... Oh yes, I am going to make him hate you"

Meena half-opened her eyes, looking at the giant-sized Ragnarok that was supporting her by her hair. It was there when the demon smiled, showing an enormous and distorted smile to the girl. Ragnarok was the solidified black blood, the madness in solid form.

It was an image that chilled Meena's blood, making her shiver in fright.

"you can flee ... but we are going to find you, we will find you and we will make you pay. I am going to eat your soul" The demon hissed before releasing the girl, whipping her against the ground. Crona, too drunk to be conscious, remained immutable face down in bed.

Meena sobbed, lifting her hand to touch her head. Some scalp had come off, filling her face and neck with blood. Shaking, Meena tried to stand up, turning over to see Ragnarok who again was only a little black blob comfortably installed on the back of his meister.

"Now get the fuck out of here" Were the only words of the demonsword, which reached up to grab the blankets and tuck Crona with them.

Meena did not hesitate in getting out of that room, letting Ragnarok only with his meister. The little demon centered all of his attention in the pink-haired man below him. Even asleep, the swordsman looked exhausted, breathing slowly.

"Is the best for us" Ragnarok said in a low voice, moving some pink-colored hair locks away from Crona's face. Still asleep, a tear leaked of the eyes of the swordsman.

Meena ran immediately to her room, locking herself up. Now alone, the girl allowed herself to fall on her knees to the ground, trembling with fear. A sob escaped of her throat, lifting both hands to touch her hair. The damage was not serious, but just the single thought that Ragnarok could do such damage with one hand...

She panted, allowing herself to cry in fright and impotence. She was terrified, but she couldn't be allow herself to show that to the little demon. No, she had to remember the true reason of why she was doing all of that, the motive of why she was entangled with Crona. The demon was right, she couldn't back out... not now only her pride was at stake, but also her life.

She had to push Maka away, she had to separate her from Crona.

Cleaning her tears and her blood with the back of her hand, Meena stood up to open her closet padlock, where a chest was hidden. When opening it, in front of her hundreds of letters appeared.

It was three years of mail between Crona and Maka.

"this has to disappear..." Meena whispered for herself. Nobody could found those letters, because they were the evidence of what she had dond. Those letters not only could destroy her, but make everything she had managed to achieve to split the swordsman and the scythe meister be in vain. As soon as she had the opportunity, that chest along with all of its content had to be destroyed.

In the dark of the night, a couple of amber eyes looked through the window of that room, half-closing irefully.

* * *

**Akire Rosales**: Soooo... how was it? Some questions got answered xD hope that keeps you all from killing me D: ALSOOOO! As you can see we are getting to the interesting part of the story xD For next chapter... you all gonna hate me, a lot.

In other news! This story has MOAR FANART! I cant believe it myself ;w; Now it comes from AkimiB who made a lot of drawings for many scenes of this fanfic. You should totally go see her talent in deviantart! She has a whole folder labeled with the name of this fanfic :'D I cant feel more blessed!

Wait, yes I can... WITH YOUR REVIEWS! Im having a very hard time with school and I can barely find spare time to write this story, but I read and reread all of your reviews every day so I can keep myself inspired! Trust me, your reviews are what makes the next chapter possible!

Next chapter -hopefully- will be the last that lasts this long to be uploaded. Remember when I took over 2 months for one chapter? I wrote the other ones during that time! And boy there are big surprises coming!

As for now, keep reading, fav, follow and most important: **REVIEW! :D**

**P.S: **dont forget to give some love to my beta reader, you can find her in deviantart with the name of Zaiduck... did I say she is a very talented CroMa artist? no? well there you go =) she'll make your nose bleed!


End file.
